Blog: UK All Day

Big Cakes serves up a slice of neck-snapping boom bap for this homage to the scrilla. Get hold of his album Blue Cheese over here .

Piff Gang seem to catch a bit of flak for re-appropriating contemporary US rap. Fair enough if that's not your bag, but presumably these nitpickers chomp at the bit for looped breaks and samples - production techniques that came from across the pond anyway.

Congratulations are in order for Context, who managed to get his fans behind him to end up on MTV's recent Brand New For 2012 winners' list. He was the only unsigned act to go through and kept company with the likes of Lana Del Ray. Respect his grind hustle grustle.

Props to DunNdee for doing his thing and passing this back. For a moment there it looked like Rappertag was gonna end up with someone's mum. Billy Brimstone, where you at?

Just as US MCs started rapping about pills as late as the turn of the millennium - when Brits had already developed lockjaw, missing teeth, short-term memory loss and bouts of depression - now Cypress Hill rope in Rusko for a dubstep number. DJ Muggs once told a music mag that UK rap is shit and would never be able to touch America. Well Muggs, I'm afraid US rappers sound shit on 140bpm.

Auburn-bird's-nest-haired singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran keeps making big strides, his latest track seeing him pair up with Shady Records artist and Eminem pal Yelawolf.

Two of the UK's finest hip hop producers, Myke Forte and Kelakovski, join J Dilla ambassador Houseshoes and Berlin's Suff Daddy for a new four-track instrumental EP from the Louis Den camp. And if you want more crills from Forte, he let go of two more in his Zodiak beat-tape series, Sagittarius and Scorpio , earlier this month. <a href=" http://louisden.bandcamp.com/a lbum/behind-closed-doors-vol3- ep">BEHIND CLOSED DOORS VOL3 EP by Louis Den</a& amp;amp;amp;gt;

Big Gen gives you the enigmatically titled EP Painkillers & Pilkington , with Pastor Dutchie solely manning the boards. This is the warm-up to I Ain't Even Started Bruv . It is a true fact that Genesis Elijah is the only rapper followed by Ricky Gervais on Twitter, though rumours of a feature in an Office spin-off remain unconfirmed. Pick up the EP below. Genesis Elijah - Painkillers & Pilkington (EP)

"Only 87s , I don't fuck with no Air Force ." Another month and another release from Sonny, who's staying on his grizzly so he can fund those decadent banquets. <a href=" http://sonnyjim.bandcamp.com/a lbum/eatin-like-a-king">Eatin' Like A King by SONNYJIM</a>

The Poisonous Poet reps his west London stomping ground in the run-up to the release of his forthcoming 7 Shades EP.

DVS scribes a tribute to his home town of Brixton. This one's taken from last year's One In A Billion mixtape.

Here's a snippet from Bonobo with guest vocals courtesy of Ipswich rapper and fellow Ninja Tune labelmate DELS. Eyesdown will be available in full glory on 13 Feb when Bonobo's remix of 2010 album Black Sands hits stores. Pre-orders available here .

"Nepotism ------------- Pronunciation: /ˈnɛpətɪz(ə)m/ [noun] the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs." Someone needs to press the reset button on this.

Benny Banks is on the offensive after signing on the dotted line with Warner Music subsidiary 679. Bada Bing sees Show N Prove offer up one of his most commercially viable productions to date, and Benny prove to be one of the least threatening rappers to ever mean mug to camera.

This is pretty much an excuse to post Fabolous's Y'all Don't Hear Me Though , produced by New Jersey up-and-comer Cardiak. Nothing new here, but then you can't ever really go too wrong with bare-faced bravado over a chest-puffing beat. "The camera's on us! Everybody, gun fingers!"

Mystro's latest yearly overview gets a video, the perfect accompaniment to ensure that none of those topical one-liners go over your head. Welcome to 2012, mutha luvaz!

Faith SFX knocks it out the park once again, aping the beat from Nas's Affirmative Action , throwing in a synth fill from Still Dre and combining it with the vocals off Odd Future Golf Wang crooner Frank Ocean's Swim Good . Tack Black The Ripper on the end and you've got a bootleg winner. Faith has hands down got the best vocal beats around.

Tony Rotten carries the Rapper Tag torch, taking over from Rodney P and leaving it open for his righthand man K9. This could very quickly end up in a cul-de-sac of nostalgia and favouritism. Someone who's released an album in the last 12 months should get this next.

Mysdiggalo sees in the new year with his UK version of Skillz' annual rap up, chronicling the past 12 months' events in rhyming form. I still can't believe Jimmy Saville is gone.

A superb animated video gets married to Paul White's weird but wonderful Doldrums , possibly the only slice of medieval vocoder hip hop you will ever hear. Mr White's Rapping With Paul White and it follow-up remix set are available here and here .