Some exciting news for you all: Boston native Slaine headlines this OTU Live show with his début solo performance in the UK. Slaine became internationally acclaimed for his work as a member of the La Coka Nostra collection, and having managed to hold his own alongside veterans Everlast and ILL Bill, Slaine earned himself a solid fan base and his talent grew exponentially under the limelight. After taking timeout to secure his position as the premier ‘Boston tough guy’ in movies, starring in Gone Baby Gone and The Town, Slaine returned to music in 2011 by releasing the long-awaited A World With No Skies 2.0, and more recently the universally-praised State Of Grace mixtape with Statik Selektah.
Representing Philadelphia supergroup Army of the Pharaohs is Reef the Lost Cauze, who like Slaine will be joined live onstage by DJ Illegal- one half of Europe’s most talented production team, Snowgoons. With Reef and Snowgoons having recently teamed up to produce one of the 2011’s most anticipated albums in Your Favourite MC, this event will give UK fans the chance to see the masterpiece performed live, alongside the biggest tracks from Reef, Army Of The Pharaohs, and the Snowgoons’ considerable and critically-adored back catalogues.
In a night of diverse collaborations, the support acts will be representative of London’s own musical diversity. Multi-talented and viewed as one of London’s best event hosts, Stig of the Dump will be gracing the stage with his trademark brand of humour, and a selection of his most exciting songs. In charge of the records for the night is DJ Snuff, a veteran of the hip-hop scene, who will also be unveiling his new collective: Caxton Press.
Usually when Psycho Realm and La Coka Nostra team up it’s something special. Brujeria from La Coka’s A Brand You Can Trust is one of my favourite tracks from either collective, and this new effort will definitely be welcomed by fans of either.
With a sample-heavy, soulful beat by West Coast producer G Rocka providing plenty of room for both MC’s to hit their stride, the track opens with an on-form Slaine reaching the levels to be expected from him recently. Sick Jacken comes through, and for me, gives the track a real 90′s westcoast vibe. The third verse is back and fourth between the two, and demonstrates how well the two compliment each other.
The track is from Sick Jacken’s new LPOutdated, and sets the bar high for the rest of the album. Download below.
Vinnie Paz & Ill BILL get yet more visual treatment from Reel Wolf Productions for their efforts under the Heavy Metal Kings moniker, this time accompanied by underground heavyweights Slaine & Q-Unique. One of the best tracks from HMK, with solid verses from all involved and Slaine delivering one of my favourite lines on the album: “Not the man, not the myth I’m your superhero with his mask off.”
I’m without a personal laptop, headphones, and iPod this week, so I can’t give a review of this mixtape just yet.
On the plus side, you know what to expect when it comes to these two. Statik Selektah has been consistently putting out solid mixtapes for years now and to add to that, Slaine has been on a mission as of late (as I mentioned here the other day), and will no doubt bring his own brand of Boston hip-hop to the Statik Selektah sound.
It’s also something to hold us over until A World With No Skies, and with features from Ill Bill, Termanology, and Action Bronson, fans can probably guess what they’re getting here.
For me, Slaine has always been one of the best around, and recently he has been putting in the work to solidify his spot at the top of the underground. His recent mixtape The Devil Never Dies is testament to that, with more stand out tracks on it than most MC’s albums have.
Now, he has come out with a video for my favourite track from said mixtape. The Trail of Blood video is much like Slaine himself- polished and slick, with a grimey yet realistic look at some of the darker elements of society. The video is pretty grim, taking a look at both drug addiction and murder in a brutal and honest way, which compliments the tone of the song and manages to capture the true horror of such situations.
A World With No Skies is out August 16th, pre-order here
Now that I’ve got some underground writing competition in the form of Chris, it’s time I had better step my game up. Up first we have an introspective, soul-searching number for La Coka Nostra counterpart Slaine form his upcoming follow up to the acclaimed A World With No Skies (2.0) which drops on August 16th.
On a totally unrelated note, I only just found out that Ben Affleck cast him as a leading role in The Town. #Latepass
Been waiting on this for ages. Reks, one of the hardest-working, most gifted emcees in the underground scene right now, drops us for free his latest mixtape in preparation for his upcoming Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme album. Reks teams up with DJ Green Lantern, DJ Ill Will and frequent collaborator Statik Selektah to bring us this release, and boasts features from La Coka Nostra’s Slaine, OTU favourites Reef The Lost Cauze, Termanology, Sha Stimuli and many more.
I’m still checking this out but Reks goes in on this and there are some absolute bangers to accompany his razor-sharp lyricism.
Recent Comments