SPIT: 90 Minutes of Hip Hop

Plan B - who some might say (but not us at SPIT...we're much smarter than that ) resembles a very young, very angry Mike Skinner - has his debut album out now Who Needs Actions When You've Got Words. This is the first single off it, "No Good".



In other news, we have a new template in the pipeline, and a couple of new segments to launch on the radio. We may even relaunch some sort of podcast...

Stay tuned.

Labels: Mike Skinner, Plan B, podcast, template, video, Who Needs Actions When You've Got Words

Rakim, Kanye West, Nas, KRS-ONE and DJ Premier - "Classic"

In (un)related news, if anyone feels keen to design us a new blogger template that is much 'realer' than the orange crap we have now, please feel free.

Labels: blogger, gangster, lolcat, president, real, template

A big spittle-infused welcome to everyone navigating our bare-bones blog from the brand spankin' new, totally rockin' OzHipHop.com toolbar (shameless plug). Come in, sit down, make yourself at home. And while you're here, check out last weeks (May 13) playlist, as spun so securely by Sean-Bad:

Nick Sweepah- Ghost Mutt
DJ Bonez presents Omni- Hide the Dope
Drapht feat Dazastah- Wet T-Shirts
Mystro- Diggi Down Under

Tommy Illfigga- Heavyweights
Omni- Acid
Rainman- Australian Story
Nick Sweepah- Adenachhrome

Public Enemy- He got game
Ice Cube- It was a good day
Wu Tang Clan- Can it be all so simple
Cypress Hill- How I could just kill a man

The Reason - Melways
No fucking clue 'cause I vagued out
Seriously I wasn't high, I just vagued out!
Combat Wombat - Alternative Energy (at least I remembered that one)

Nick Sweepah - TAS
Juggaknots - Sunday
Braintax - All I need
Funkoars - DuNaNa

Turns out it's not just OHH who are bringing the heat when it comes to experiments with web 2.0 technology (Get on over to thee forum, sign up, get the toolbar, and support Australian hip hop fool). Seems that MC Hammer is the expert when it comes to what's new and cool on the net. In case you missed it, click here.

And while you are in the mood for some light reading, check out the latest reviews at OHH, including Doujah Raze:

..."we have yet another contender for release of the year. Doujah Raze – pronounced DOUGH-jah Raise – and his album Past Presence Features really hits the spot, with slick production, tight rhyming and more than a little pop and zest a long the way.

Full review available here.


Be sure to keep tuning in on alternate Sunday nights (next show May 27) for Gippsland's only dedicated hip hop show and if you really can't wait, come back here or check out that wonderful social networking hot spot, MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/spit_rhymes.

Labels: 2.0, doujah raze, mc hammer, OHH, ozhiphop.com

Just listening to the new Mobb Deep record. The latest instalment in a career that has seen massive highs and lows. After releasing a brilliant and criticially acclaimed second album, Infamous, in 1995 the New York duo has released a string of weaker albums while moving between labels. Now they've signed with 50 Cent's G-Unit and they're looking for commercial success with Blood Money.

This may be why 50 Cent features on practically every song on this album. So if you don't like 50 you probably won't like the album at all.

This is the first "cool" album from Mobb Deep in a decade and the duo now has more exposure than ever. The beats here are polished for a mainstream audience but, as always, the G-Unit production is flawless.

Tracks like Creep and The Infamous are instant stand-outs but overall the album seems kind of empty. Some interesting synth beats here and plenty of good sample-tracks with G-Unit feel but not really much lyrical content. And some damn annoying hooks, like on Pearly Gates, with 50 Cent singing.

You're probably better off buying their 1995 Infamous album, if you haven't got it, if you're after good Mobb Deep but Blood Money has it's moments too.

Good question. This is Fiddy's betrayed cousin - two-five, 25 Cent, get it? It's supposed to be all sad, since 50 apparently has forgotten all about the hood.

Some of the tracks on his new mixtape sound so insanely like Fiddy's own. This is especially true with Fired Up.

The Future Star Music Group
make some fat synth beats and two-five is a good mc with a varied vocabulary.

It's actually quite a good mixtape. Some instant headbangers like Mo Billz and My Block and Name Callin' is a pretty clever freestyle.

It's a shame, really, that he sounds so much like Fiddy. Sometimes he sounds like himself and that's the sound he should be going for.

Have been listening to some UK rap I've found on mixtapetorrent and raphustle lately and some of it has caught my attention. MCs Mega and Mayhem were recently signed to the Roc-A-Fella/DipSet outfit and have released several mixtapes and miscellaneous stuff over the last couple of years.

Although some of it is pretty bland and perhaps "too New York" (in a DipSet-way) for some, there's no denying these guys know what they're doing. The two brothers Mega and Mayhem moved from London to New York after one of them was offered a basketball scholarship there and they soon got attention from the biggest in the game. Apparently Kanye West was interested in a production deal but thank God they didn't go with that or we would soon hear them in a mash-up with an American Idol winner or something.

Full of fancy word play and a very cocky mix between Staten Island and cockney slang these guys tear up any track, especially the slow signature DipSet beats with the cinematic samples they usually do. Definitely worth checking out. Their Streets All Salute Mixtape is good, so is the Dipset/Eurogang mixtape by Grind Entertainment and Harlem Piff.

It's here. The album that was supposed to redefine Busta's career, one of the most anticipated records of the year, another Dre-produced classic. Problem is it doesn't really live up to any of these promises, dreads or not.

Don't get me wrong, this is a tight album. Very tight. Dre has produced five of the beats and there are also some gems here from Green Lantern and Swizz Beats. The collabo list is enough to make this album an almost guaranteed multi-platinum record. you have Stevie Wonder on the cheesy but good Been Through the Storm, Nas on the very dramatic and tight Don't Get Carried Away, Raekwon spits some rhymes on Goldmine, and Q-Tip features on two tracks on the album.

The album is going for a bit of a retro sound, a sort of nineties New York feel which is somewhat refreshing. The problem is that Busta himself doesn't really live up to his reputation. He's not playful enough and his flows are actually pretty average. Oh yes, he has a powerful voice but the lyrical content here is quite boring and Busta ends up as "just another rapper".

Personal favourites here are the introductory track Get You Some with Q-Tip Marsha of Floetry and Don't Get Carried Away with Nas, who proves himself as probably THE greatest MC. Yes, it's contentous but what the hell. The problem is that these are the two first tracks on the album and from then on it gets a bit boring. The third track with Raekwon, Goldmine, is a bit of a gem but you're better off getting a Raekwon mixtape or album if this is the type of track you want.

All in all it's OK. But it doesn't redefine Busta's career, it's not a Dre-classic and it's not the greatest album this year. Hopefully Busta will chill out a bit on his next one, experiment a bit more and let his flow be the centre of attention. That's after all what he does best.

Just completed a new review on Brissy locals DJ DCE and Len-One, which can be viewed HERE. A nice little mixtape with lots of wicked horn samples.