Blog: Shimmy Shimmy

Hailing from Chi town, Kid Sister and her brother J2k of Flosstradamus have been tearing up the club scene there for a while. I got to catch them supporting Spank Rock at a 'secret party' in the autumn, and it was a heck of a dance party... Flosstradamus use 3 turntables, and 2 mixers...mixing vinyl and digital, and a handful of different genres... Check out their myspaces and enjoy. Kid Sister - Let me bang [...]

I just got back from the massive apple. I could write about a zillion posts about it, but i'm keeping it to the dopest stuff i got/ saw. Fat Beats on 6th Avenue might be the best hip hop store ever. I picked up a couple of great mixes, and being a big fan of Outkast, I couldn't resist this one by the Audible Doctor , who's a part of The Grain. It's the Best of Outkast Remixed, all new beats, tight as they should be. Check out the tracks below and cop that [...]

Poor James Brown , if it wasn't bad enough that he died before he could open his presents on Xmas day his body is currently in transit between his numerous different offspring while a mausoleum (have you noticed that you can spell the word 'museum' from 'mausoleum' *hint hint*) is being built I believe in Atlanta, Georgia. Huzza up dudes, he going to start to smell. To remind us of better times here's a smouldering dub of 'Get on the Good Foot' by Lennie Hibbert. Lennie Hibbert - Real Hot

Biggie Smalls died a decade ago today. The killer was apparently wearing a bow-tie and a blue suit. They still don't know who he is, or why the murder was carried out. Gun crime ain't never been cool, especially when you besmirch the good clean name of suits and bow-ties, fie upon thee accursed hooligans. Distant Land by Donald Byrd - Madlib (I felt it a little crass to put one of Biggie's tracks on here, considering most of them talk about people getting shot, so here's a more sombre piece from [...]

A foot of snow fell yesterday. So i'm turning up the fire.... Aswad have been marred by the drivel they put out in the late 80s and 90s, when they crossed the dangerous bridge into pop, but they have in their 30 years as renowned musicians put out some great roots reggae. This dub track from the album 'A New Chapter in Dub' (1982) is accomplished, it's dark and it's funky. Crank the dub fire... Also, Aswad's Brinsley Forde hosts the Dub Bashment radio show on BBC6 Music , which i whole-heartedly recommend for your weekly [...]

Mostly for lack of money and poor promotion, african rap has barely made its way on to the european/north american music scene, and even when it does, you find hiplife, kwaito, afrobeat..all under the useless title of 'world music'. I picked up a fair amount of African rap and more traditional music during my time there, and I wanted to share the vast range that the continent offers... To start off, to celebrate the opening of the 20th FEPASCO festival (Africa's only pan-african film festival, in Ouagadougu, Burkina Faso), I bring you Yeleen - who performed at the opening ceremony [...]

If you live in London you will know that it is currently WELL COLD, but then again if you live in London you're probably quite used to this fact. What a bummer. So what's the best way to keep Jack Frost at bay at this time of year apart from coating yourself in Whale fat or fastening newspapers to your torso for the winter? Why, Real Heat of course! These London girls have been catching some hype lately from all the usual suspects, so I thought I'd give them a listen..I don't know what to think really, they're alriiiight in [...]

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The Black Lips are playing in London this Februrary/March. Go see them. That's right, Atlanta, Georgia's finest down-low-derrtty cock n' roll band play the Windmill in Brixton on the 26th (feb that is), The Montague Arms in New Cross on the 28th, 3rd of March at the Scala in King's X, 4th at the Coronet and finally the 7th at the Old Blue Last. They come highly recommended, if only because they cover a Jacque Dutronc song (an artist I will do a more exhaustive post on soon), his tracks were coolest thing musically to [...]

I've spent a fair amount of the last few years outside of old blighty, but i still have to represent musically....and i have to show there's more to English reggae than UB40. When Damian Marley's Welcome To Jamrock started rocking the radio a couple of years back, plenty of mash-ups and rehash-ups started appearing, my favourites being Lil Kim's Lighters Up (Welcome to Brooklyn) and Zagu Zarr's 'Welcome to England'. Zagu Zarr's rendition is not so much the Marley discussion of ghetto education and violence in Trench Town, but more about the 'bristol danger zone'. Take the whirlwind [...]

Yo! Welcome to shimmy shimmy yay, where we will be picking the bones of the festering corpses of todays, tomorrows and yesterdays finest musical releases. Speaking of festering corpses, it was eight years ago this week that Big L (Lamont Coleman to his mum) was gunned down in his own Harlem streets. How different would the game (Christ, I hate that term) be had L not been killed? Word was that he was due to sign to Rocafella, with the company in major ascendancy and role as a mentor to a young Jay-Z things could be very different today, I [...]

From dead rapper to dread rapper, One young buck currently claiming the ole' 'Best Rapper Alive' title is New Orlean's Lil' Wayne. Rapping from the tender age of 13, you would imagine the lack of a real childhood would be a major mindfuck for poor Weezy, leading to a life of neverending reinvention and the installation of a zoo in the garden. But hey! Don't you worry, Weezy keeps it youngsta with a mouth full of metal, garish oversized jerseys and constant tears, holla! Weezy F. is currently causing a stir in the mixtape world with his opus 'The Best [...]

Despite his untimely death last February, J Dilla's third posthumous record, Ruff Draft, will be out on Stones Throw on March 22. There's little to add to all the RIP-ing and praise, except to add my respect to the deservedly immense pile. You can put your money to good use here , and get yourself a tee here . In memory of the legend that it James Yancey (1974-2006), Dionne Warwick's You're Gonna Need Me, sampled on Donuts , and a cut from the 'new' record, Ruff Draft : [...]

Welcome, bienvenido, bienvenue...to our boxfresh blog, Shimmy Shimmy, serving up a hot dish of reggae, dub, and beyond.... Here's a taster of things to come, from Big Youth - World War III (link expired)