Get Your Boom-Baps Out! Full English Hip-Hop 30.05.11

Nothing better than a full English to start another working week in that living hell you call a 9 to 5, so chin up my friends! This one is guaranteed not to dribble yolk and HP down that godawful Topman tie & shirt combo you picked up in a bid to hold onto your youth. Accept it. University is over. Shop at Greenwoods...

June's looking to be a fertile breeding ground for the UK long player this year. Firstly is the debut release from Enlish on FU Music entitled Cold Lazarus LP. The album, in particular it’s lead AA ‘Single Messed UP/Arrogance Is Bliss’, featuring UK stalwart & labelmate Stig Of The Dump alongside US veteran Sean Price of Bootcamp Clik has already been picking up some healthy rotation on hip-hop mixes and in the blogosphere, in particular garnering the hallowed thumbs up from US hip-hop mecca 2DopeBoyz, and features all the swagger, alcohol and observationally razor-sharp lyrics Enlish has become well know for and is highly recommended for people who are getting a bit bored of hearing Tinie Chipmunk tell you how many pairs of boxers he's got round his Aunt's house. Add to this a heady variety of introspection, self-depreciation and a good peppering of a genuine appreciation for vintage hip-hop and it is a guaranteed to be a few notes well spent. For those feeling extra flush you can always invest in the limited USB edition (shaped like a giant pill no less!) or the super limited cassette edition, especially for those folk who still remember the halcyon days where cartoons involved MC Hammer in talking tap shoes. Just what the doctor ordered!

Buggsy #1 has also seen his debut drop this month, entitled The Great Escape on Riddim-Holic Ent, the LP is an energy fuelled set from a young man renowned for his versatility and the ability to rhyme over almost anything from grime to dance-hall, which certainly helps on a record carrying more styles than a Kellogg's Variety Pack (yeah, we are keeping on the breakfast theme, cock-a-doodle doo and all that patter.) With a remix of 'Down Dat Road' by Sean Bean City native Toddla T recently being recorded it is fair to say that fans of the dub-inflected hip-hop alá Roots Manuva or Serocee may have found a new friend.

June also sees the potentially overdue release of Jehst's new album Dragon From An Ordinary Family on his own co-owned YNR imprint. For those who don't know who Jehst is, it's a bit like reading to the halfway point of the third Lord of the Rings book and asking "Is this beardy Gandalf dude important?" but let's not hold that against anyone. Let's learn together; 70's commune style... Not Jim Jones commune style though, just the pleasant ones. The first single off the album, 'Starting Over' has already received great praise, in particular the wonderfully British video by the gentlemen of Studio Murmur, which sees Jehst deliver some hip-hop treats in postal form around Big Grey London Town on nothing but his own two feet. The video is obviously steeped in fiction, as he makes reasonable time, reliable deliveries and at no point decides to go on strike. Check it out when you've got a spare few minutes, you can also play spot the hip-hop cameo. It's probably more fun than that admin backlog your inbox is tempting you with.

Finally, before I deal with my admin backlog, a.k.a signing on and setting the video for Eastenders, I must just mention the sad and untimely passing of a U.S hip-hop pioneer, who was taken too soon. Yes, respects go out to Macho Man Randy Savage, who departed recently, leaving behind his one classic album ‘Be A Man’. So do as he says, be a man, and go grab a copy of a great man's magnum opus!