Get Your Boom Baps Out! Full English Hip-Hop 25.07.11

Mankind, for all its cultural pursuits, philosophical revelations and technological achievements is, at base, nothing more than an animal. When personal liberty or, unfortunately more commonly, personal gain, is in question the Darwinian savage buried deep in the recesses of our under-stimulated minds takes control. When this desperate beast is left unchained, acts of sheer barbarity can only be but a heartbeat away. Acts without moral conscience. Acts committed purely to forward a selfish personal regime or belief system. By the end of 1945 Auschwitz had taken the lives of more than 1 million Europeans, largely the Jewish population. Railroaded like cattle into ghetto surroundings, robbed, exploited and murdered so as to make room for the grand designs of an evil dictator and his followers. Seemingly without feeling or regard for members of not only their own race, but, in the sickest of circumstances, their own families. By the end of the sixties Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, along with his personal military and militia's had murdered roughly 30,000 Haitian citizens and plunged the country into an economic oblivion from which it has never recovered, purely to secure control of what is effectively nothing more than arid rock…

On 12pm Saturday July 23rd 2011, alongside the spiritually crippling news that onetime hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes has agreed to do a collaboration track on her forthcoming album, Cher Lloyd has had over 4.5 million views of the video for her new single ‘Swagger Jagger’. Truly, there is no God. So, as Richard Dawkins dances joyously on the dust bitten scrolls of Christ's teachings, safe in the knowledge that the frail faith mankind once held has truly reached its nadir and validated his theories, we solemnly salute those in the world of hip-hop bravely stood shoulder to shoulder on the front lines. Holding back the onslaught of morally bankrupt, financially poisoned, soulless dictators who wish to taint all that is pure in the luscious garden of British lyricists. Oh, and that slutty little thing that frumped round your telly for six months in a tacky pair of Nikes pretending she liked "rappers" whilst excreting a few piss poor rhyming couplets whom they so skilfully manipulate.

The first man boldly over the razor wire and onto the frontlines this week is Sonnyjim. Released through the gastronomically named collaborative combo UK's Eat Good Records and our colonial cousin Australia's Obese records, Jim's Psychonaut LP sees one of 'Brum's top lyricists on nothing short of colossal form. 'God Complex' alongside Jehst & Cappo (themselves the most seasoned of veterans) carries a potent cluster of verses the like of which Cher Lloyd probably couldn't manage to shed some crocodiles tears to if she had just been pepper sprayed, let alone compete with verbally. That is, of course, assuming she has any idea what a "verse" is. Alongside the stellar guest list and tracks with titles like 'Psychadelic Enterprises' and 'Flying To The Moon' truly the only thing missing from this veritable epic of an album is the personal approval of Timothy Leary... and possibly the million pound marketing push of Cher Lloyd's evil benefactors. Who may or may not have had something to do with old Tim's untimely demise... I'm not quite sure how far into libellous journalism I've just ventured. Any bugger got Murdoch's number?

Next up, and just in time for a summer, which can only be described as "piss-wet-through", is F.U Music soldier Enlish with his Sunny EP, which we will assume is ironically titled. The album carries a classic laidback jazz inflected sound, reminiscent of all those summertime classics from the likes of Masta Ace or DJ Jazzy Jeff, and was the perfect accompaniment to a stroll along Great Yarmouth seafront at 6 in the morning, casually sipping a rum heavy mojito as the morning rays playfully twinkle on yesterday's used hypodermics. Guests include Dr Syntax, Verb T & Dabbla of LDZ and lyrically the tracks focus largely on the main sports of our great nation. Those sports being boozing and work dodging, making it the perfect pre-night out BBQ soundtrack. Additionally, for those of you who, like myself, are regular Daly Thompson's in the fields of booze and work avoidance, will be extra chuffed to discover the EP is available free of charge on Enlish bandcamp page! That's saved me the cost of a Wetherspoons G&T. Jackpot!

Lastly, as the embers of your BBQ smoulder, the over zealous drinkers of your Jim Beam slumber & those of you still standing head for the clubs, comes the new single from Toddla T & Roots Manuva. ‘Watch Me Dance’ is taken from Toddla's forthcoming album of the same name on Ninjatune and both men are in fine fettle with this cut. That means some thumping bass & ravy synthesizer work from potentially Sheffield's second most popular DJ (Sean Bean has probably played a CD in his house at some point) complimenting the offbeat and nimble wordplay of Mr Manuva wonderfully.

And so, with an out-of-body mental excursion, booze soaked beach BBQ and a relentlessly bouncy night in clubland under my belt I'm fetching Daddy's rifle and going on the hunt for Busta Rhymes. Once upon a time something of a personal hero. Now a vapid, money grabbing parody of his former self. Best grab my passport whilst I'm on it, there's a Nuremberg court summons with his name on it...