More than almost anyone we know Nigel Sylvester has a New York State Of Mind. The Queens born and bred BMX badman lives, breathes and bikes the city in top gear. The Big Apple is also the inspiration behind his second collaboration for G-Shock.
"New York
City can be so intense, so chaotic, so overbearing at times, but it can also be
beautiful, peaceful, calm and I wanted to do a piece that reflected that," he told us. "So we
put the safari print on the band in reference to New York being a 'Concrete
Jungle'. We did matt black and gloss black on top to show the contrast of it
being crazy and calm. Then we did black screws and black intercasing on the
back; these are little details that I wanted to do. I believe simplicity is the
truest form of beauty."
We met up with Mr Sylvester last week to find out what inspires him musically while behind two wheels. Here's his three picks to listen to while traversing the terrain. Check the last video with A$AS Ferg to peep Nigel's incredible skills.
1) Jay-Z: Can I Live
"It’s so introspective
and it’s food for thought. It teases your mind and makes you think. It helps me
to slow things down when I’m on my bike and think it through."
2) Drake Ft. The Weeknd: The Ride
"I really can
relate to it; everything he talks about, I relate to. Being a young man and
dealing with family, dealing with friends, dealing with success, dealing with those
up’s and downs. Like Biggie said, ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’. So dealing with, and adjusting to, my
new surroundings, things start changing. So that’s a song that helps me through
those moments and those situations."
3)A$AP Ferg: Work
"That’s my homie.
He’s awesome. That song gets me so hyped. We actually just dropped a video that
we collaborated on (above). I’m riding and he’s doing his thing. The video is me riding
and him performing Work. That was exciting." Get one of the limited edition Nigel Sylvester GD101-NS from G-Shock.
Based on a true story, Michael 'Action Man' Bay's new film looks like a right barrel of lolz. The film is taken from magazine articles from the 90s the described the scam that three personal trainers undertook in order to pursue the American Dream (i.e. get rich). Needless to say, things don't go according to plan and hilarity ensues (probably).
Starring one of our absolute favourite actors (no, not the Rock, we mean Marky Mark), there's also that wierd Australian girl who does a great line in deadpan and Anthony Mackie.
Hip Hop head and artist Jay Shells had the brilliant idea of marking the site of locations mentioned in rapper's lyrics.
Using a uniform red placard with white type, he's pitched these all over New York (perhaps slightly less in Manhattan but you know). There's quotes from A.G, Jay-Z, Jim Jones, Big L. Nas, Mos Def, Prodigy and so on.
Whether these are still up remains to be seen, but Jay is pretty chill about it. If we saw one of these, we'd definitely half-inch it. Very, very cool.
We're into these tasty numbers from the good people of Dior. Taken from the 2013 A/W collection, these leather and suede high-tops exude taste and class (rather like our good selves).
These and the rest of the line will be available from Dior Homme boutiques later this year.
One of our favourite tunes from LongLiveA$AP, Rocky releases a video for the Skrillex and Birdy Nam Nam banger. Rock and his 'n***a' Skrillex head to the Dominican Republic for a beautifully conceptualized and shot video. Hard to imagine a video doing the song more justice - it's one of those that actually adds to the track as a whole.
Here's what the Harlem hottie told us about working with Mr. Sonny Moore on the tune.
“He’s so cool. Like we hang out as friends and he’s cool despite
his success. We
were chilling on his bus one day and he’s like ‘What’s everyone doing, we gotta
go to the studio’ so we bought the party to the studio and he threw Wild For The Night on. I hope it’s as
fun to listen to as it was to make it.”
We're really excited about this new singer and writer from South London.
We won't say too much about Joel just yet, suffice to say a) his surname is his real name, no gimmicks and b) we were lucky enough to get a sneak peak of three other tracks that he will be releasing as an EP called Astronaut. The EP will be out in June on the brilliant Black Butter (Woz, Rudimental, Gorgon City etc etc).
Comparisons to Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and Jamie Woon are being boundied about but we think it won't be long before others will be touted as 'The Next Joel Compass'.
You can't see Compass in this (very dark and messed up) video, but he assures us you'll be seeing a lot more of his face in the next one. Special mention to the video directors Joel Schwartz and Cooper Roberts for a great 3:01minutes of intense narrative.
Wanna know who else didn't feature in their videos? Check this lot...
Ed Sheeran Wiley(standard) (also check pre-fame curly haired Emeli Sande in this one) The Child Of Lov Naughty Boy (Ok, he sort of does but only glimpses behind his hoodie)
There's lots more, we're sure, but we have things to do. Like eat biscuits etc.
They're often classic interviews, but this Snoop and Nardwuar interview is a really great one. Just watch Snoop and learn. This is how you do interviews rappers.
Here's a really early Nardwuar Vs. Snoop Dogg, as he was then known, interview referred to in the clip above.
Titled Kurt Cobain, the song is about... well, yeah, Kurt and living life to the full.
Here we play the Seven Steps of Kevin Bacon with Dotty and Kurt Cobain.
1. Kurt was in a band, Nirvana (who were quite famous) with Dave Grohl (who went on to form the Foo Fighters, also quite famous).
2. Dave Grohl had 'beef' with Courtney Love (something to do with a song called Teenage Whore)
3. Courtney Love played Althea Flynt in the film The People Versus Larry Flynt.
4. Larry Flynt was directed by Milos Forman, who is, sadly, an orphan.
5. Another famous orphan was Annie, immortalised in the film Annie The Musical, which is to be remade this year with Quvenzhane Wallis (from Beasts Of The Wild) who is about to make 12 Years A Slave with Michael K Williams (AKA Omar from The Wire)
6. Michael K Williams used to be a dancer in videos for artists including Missy Elliott
7. A 14 year old Amplify Dot performed onstage with Missy Elliott in 2001 - BOOM
Featuring him off Disclosure's AMAZING Latch, the mysterious Naughty Boy (Emeli Sande, Cheryl Cole, The World) releases the second track from his forthcoming Hotel Cabana album.
Taking on another direction for the Ealing producer, we're loving the house vibes of this tune.
Each track on the album will apparently tell a story about the Hotel itself. Not sure where this fits into the story, but looking forward to hearing the full album when it's ready.
We decided we'd quite like a chat with the 18 year old South London producer, writer and singer (seriously, what were you doing at 18? Other than getting the nightbus home at 5am after a kebab and 4000 vodkas? Or is that just us? Anyway...) The Janet fan who features on Rudimental's new album and who is working with MKS (AKA OrigiBabes) popped by for a little chat. Whadda guy....
Why drop this cover and why now? Other than the fact it's an amazing song, obvs...
I'm a huge Janet Jackson fan, and a huge Jam and Lewis fan, yet in all the refixes I'd done, I hadn't done a song by her. So I figured now was the right time, and I love that song. The response has been crazy; Mistajam played it on 1Xtra and shit. I was like... WHAT?! (laughs).
You sing on this and, of course, Rudimental's Spoons. So what are you now? A producer or singer?
I'm still a producer guy to everyone. But I'll always write and I have a lot of cool stuff coming out on the songwriting/production side of things. Admittedly, I'm more excited that I'm now being able to showcase that I can sing and what I can offer as a solo artist, as opposed to just being behind the scenes all the time.
What are your ambitions as a producer and singer?
More than anything, if I can make people happy with my music, that's great. If I can make people cry with my music that's great. If I can piss people off with my music, that's also great. I just want people to feel my output and the effort and emotion I put into it. I don't want anyone to ever be like "it's 'ite" or just "meh".
What's been the most fun part of working with Rudimental?
Touring for sure. I got the stage bug when I went on the Annie Mac tour with them so now I'm so anxious to do some live stuff next year and get a band together. But I also love just being in the studio with them and cracking jokes and being spontaneous and stuff.
What's been the most shocking thing to happen on tour with them?
What happens on tour stays on tour (laughs).
How was working with MKS. And have they had a massive fight yet?
I love the songs I've done with MKS. They're all really talented and lovely and also very much perfectionists. It's been almost a year and half since we did the first few songs together. I'm excited to see what the first single is. No fights, they're all chums!!
What/ who you working on/ with right now?
I've kind of been working on a lot of stuff! Of course Rudimental's album, Home, I've got a few songs on that. I've also been writing with Hobbie Stuart, Becky Hill, Duke Dumont (with whom I did "Need You 100%" alongside A*M*E), Javeon, Amelia Lily, Sam Sure. And I've started my own album (finally) and that's shaping up to be an exciting one.
He might not be buddies with A$AP any more (*sadface) but Spaceghost is still one busy little Purrp.
About to embark on a US tour, this cloud-rapper also just dropped a new mixtape, the BMW EP, what you can get from here.
Talking of CLOUD RAP, we have been looking for an excuse to upload the third of Red Bull's Hashtag series. And this will do it.
Featuring Flatbush Zombies, the Purpp, Main Attraktionz and more, the short looks at what is Cloud Rap and how the internet is changing hip hop and how we interact with it.
The return of Man Like Leg is imminent; his Kanye produced fourth album is on its way, with single Who Do We Think We Are (probs not a Spice Girls refix) Ft. Rick Ross following this Hit-Boy produced slowie.
Is it just us, or are there some lyrical similarities to Natasha Bedingfield's 2009 'scarefest' I Wanna Have Your Babies? The whole wanting to seed/ be seeded vibes?
Just asking the question, people, just asking the question.
While he tends to work slightly more behind the scenes (See: Kanye and Jay-Z and his BiG KiDs side project), GOOD Music's Mr. Hudson has finally dropped a new single and we LOVE it.
Channeling his inner Prince and Bowie, the multi-talented Brummie is currently readying his third album.
This is as off-key, funny and weird as you'd expect from Tyler, The Creator.
We have to say, this is a fantastic idea from Mountain Dew; letting Tyler loose on your latest campaign. Highly shareable, this is one of the most effective ideas we've seen in a while. Well done Mr. Ad Man. Fab idea.
"I am a sinner, who's probably gonna sin again..."
We all knew it was ripe for a rerub and courtesy of Jay-Z, here comes a hotstepper of a refix. Kendrick switches up his verse, allowing Jay to spit a 32, before returning once more to really go hard on the track.
Here's our two favourite bars from both boys:
"Told n-----s when I was 16 that I'd write a 16 to put a n---a on the big screen/ In a paddywagon with sixteen/ Should have been in the pen but now my pen ran with morphine/ I heal n----a's, touch down with more fiends/ I kill n----a's, audio crack..." (he goes on but it's too fast for us to type TBH) Kendrick
"Can't hear myself think/ Turbulence, shit, almost spilt my drink... Empty my memory bank, it's a million dollars in there, baby, Hilary Swank. Sitting next to Hillary smelling like dank/ Presidential party..."
And "Kill my vibe it's your mo'f-ing funeral (laughs)"
Jay-Z
While the internet worries about who has the best verse, we'll just sit back and enjoy the show.
In other news, here's some shots of Kendrick's rather ace Spotify show at SXSW last week that we were lucky enough to go to.
In honour of International Women's Day, the amazing Princess Nyah has gathered the finest females in the UK and collated them all one one album.
Featuring the rhymes of Shystie, Paigey Cakey, Leshurr, RoxXxann, Lady Chan, Mz. Bratt and Baby Blue, vocals come courtesy of Nyah, Alex Mills, Selah, Sadie Ama, Ny, Meleka and many more.
"Getting this off the ground wasn't easy, but feels very rewarding," Nyah tells us. "I asked all the girls in the scene, even the signed ones, and all the ones that are on agreed and delivered paper work and WAVS on time! We're always compared with one another so it's really cool to have us all united on one CD," she continued. "We go on sale tomorrow so I hope everyone gets out there and supports."
Ohh, Drake is so angry these days isn't he? We quite like it, this new angry Aubrey.
Recorded at 5AM in well, Toronto, we presume Drizzy had been to 'the club' and gotten a bit angry, headed to the studio and a had a little vent. The second verse certainly goes in on the tabloids and other rappers, before defending Weezy's recent controversy.
Now Drake, sit down and have a lovely cuppa. You'll feel much better, we promise.
At one point, Ciara was considered a bit rubbish. But even the 'hipsters' are all over CiCi these days (apart from Rihanna maybe).
Everyone, even the hipsters, are loving are slightly harder sound. This new track might be a slowie but it still has edge. Body Party is produced by in-demand man of the moment I Am Mike Will and co-written by Ciara's boyf Future.
This is the third or fourth leak in the last month or so, so presumably the album, One Woman Army, will be dropping soon. Looking forward to it.
Host Ryan Hall visits London from the US to talk to the good people of Shoreditch and beyond about the common stereotypes of Hipsterdom and Chavs. Talking to people whose own wardrobes are seriously questionable, this mini-docu is a great insight into the bizarre way our minds work when it comes to clothing.
Part of Pharrell Williams' I Am OTHER series, we like what The Skateboard is doing here.
Not, that BBC, the other one. The Billionaire Boys Club one.
This season, Mr. Pharrell enlisted the talents of fellow Virginian Michael Kagan, whose art he was introduced to by a friend.
The line comes in both sweats and t's, three designs for both, with the colourways being black, white and grey. Kagan was inspired by NASA for these screenprints, with the tops depicting everything from the Mercury Mission to the Space Shuttle
Who better to model the new tops than the most handsome man in the universe himself, Mr. Skateboard P?
Pharrell *may* make an appearance with Kagan to launch the line at the BBC store in New York this Friday.
For us Europeans and non Big Apple residents, keep an eye on the online store to cop yours.
Another of our favourite UK rappers, G-FrSH joins up with Loick Essien, Scorcher and DVS on this emo tune, accompanied by a very cool video. Love not seeing yet another 'in da club' video. Good work everyone!
Possibly so called cos Wretchro's flow on this is the nuts.
"I want to be alive, not just employed."
Joining up with Shakka, a young man that could do exceedingly well this year, Wretch flips the script on his official new single, as he returns for his second album.
Produced by Knox Brown (Daley, Leshurr, Wiley), this tribal drum-based track makes us very, very excited for the new album.
The Scottish basshead one returns with a double A side. This is the visuals for the party hearty Slasherr (watch out for the tempo twist about a third of the way through. Ouch!) with Triadzz on the way.
Join us this Friday at the G-Shock store on Dray Walk for an almighty line-up to end all line-up's.
Entrance is free but you might want to arrive early if you want to see people perform as it can get pretty packed at the Sessions. And rightly so!
This Friday, everyone from Scrufizzer to Mic Righteous, Kozzie, Dru Blu, McClean and Micall Parkinson will be taking to the temporary stage, plus Swerve and Marco Del Horno will be taking care of the 1's and 2's.
The night will also be a celebration of the super-hot collab with Medicom Toy, The super-cute collab comes with multi-coloured star patterns in primary colours all over the strap, and a custom clear plastic container shaped as Be@rbrick head.
You need to be incredibly quick to cop one of these very limited watches. Again, get down to G-Shock East early on Friday to be in with a chance....
Like the proverbial bus, you wait ages for one to come along....
But it is true. After the era of Eve, Kim, Trina and Missy, there was a dearth of female rap. And if it was bad in the US, it was even worse in this country. Post Ms. Dynamite and Lady Sov, we had to make do with the fantastic but commercially challenged No Lay, Lady Fury and Shystie. Great female rappers they may have been, but no one was tying to sign chicks that spit back then.
Following the breakthrough of the almighty Minaj though, not only do we have Brooke Candy, Katie Got Bandz, Azealia and Angel repping for the new wave of US rhymers, but over here Lady Leshurr, Paigey Cakey, RoxXxann, Ms. Bratt, Baby Blue and Lioness are at the forefront of British rhyme.
Having worked with Kano and Ms. Dynamite and having recently signed to Virgin/ EMI, we caught up with Ashley Charles to talk Peter Andre, wearing dresses and shocking her Granny.
How did you finally get that EMI/
Virgin deal? You've been independent for a long time, right?
I’ve been doing
my independent grind for quite a while and then I did an EP last year called
Short, Back & Sides and it shows the power of supporters cos they got it
into the Top 20 Hip Hop on iTunes. For someone at the time who had 9000 Twitter
followers, it felt very early to be able to do something significant through
people supporting it. The guy who’s now my A&R heard the EP. He was
randomly in Sweden and it was on a Swedish website. He contacted me saying he
was in Sweden and that he wanted to hear some more of my stuff. I’ve been into
labels before, and it’s always ‘Yeah you’re good but go and build up your
underground, core fanbase and develop yourself a bit more’ so I didn’t really
think anything of it. I had no expectations. And three weeks later, I signed a
record deal.
Who do you count as influential figures when you're in the studio?
My influences include Timbaland in terms of sound, also Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliot, Salt N Pepa, TLC…
Who would be your dream collab?
If I could work with anybody in the world it would be Kanye West. He’s just that guy.
After a host of mixtapes, what can we expect from your album?
The album for me
is a body of work and I want to have that kind of synergy. I don’t think any
studio session is time wasted, even if it’s not a song that makes it because
you’ve developed new ideas or you’ve taken your brain somewhere. Every thing I’ve done so far,
because we’re quite far along, feels like I've gone somewhere. A mixtape doesn’t need to have
that coherence. It’s a collection of songs that you hope people will enjoy. Your debut
album needs to be a story almost. It needs to feel like you’ve gone somewhere
from beginning to end so only certain songs that are going to fit into that
sequence. So far I've worked with Ishi, Fraser, Chris Loco, Show N Prove, who’s killing it. It’s a real broad spectrum. I'm also working with people I was working with before I signed. I was glad that the label
were like ‘We liked what you did before we’re not going to pluck you away and
make you work with strangers’. So far it’s been an amazing experience.
How do you describe your style?
Tomboy chick. Trademarked! I don’t think I’ve worn a dress since my First Holy Communion. I was asked to be a bridesmaid recenly. I still haven’t given my answer to
that request. You can’t rock down the aisle with a trackie on, can you? I guess if
someone put a gun to my head, I wouldn’t die. I’d just be #awks in a dress.
Who's the most randomly famous person in your phone?
Peter Andre. That's random. Do you know why? I was
out, and he was out, and he came up and said ‘Mate, I really like your hair,
can you text me your hairdressers details’. I don’t think I ever texted him. I
was so in awe, the excitement was too much. How do you phrase that text? Do you
put a kiss on the end? Two?
What's the toughest part of your job?
Probably
separating friendship with business and knowing just because you’re my friend doesn’t
mean you’re the best person for the job. It’s tough but it’s better to do those
things and keep your friendship.
What's the most shocking thing you've seen or done on tour?
What happens on tour, stays on tour. I’ve seen some things that would
make my Granny cry!
We're a little bit obsessed with Jacob Banks and his brilliant voice. Check out i-D's amazing footage, above, of Jacob, singing in the streets of South London.
After picking up the guitar just over a year ago, the Birmingham musician has become the hottest name in UK R&B.
His plaintive songwriting and understated vocal is really quite extraordinary. As part of 'Renowned' with Wretch and George The Poet, we think Mr Banks has a brilliant career in front of him.
We had a chat with him recently. Here's what he had to say.
Why did you only pick up the guitar a year ago?
Well, I do music because it makes me happy, not
because I like to sing. I love singing, but I love being happy more. Music
makes me happy now. If writing a book makes me happy, I’ll do that. I’ve been
searching for happiness for a long time, so I’m living my dream every day
knowing I’m happy. Being able to go studio or do a show means a whole lot to me.
In what way?
Cos I’ve always being doing what was
expected of me, as opposed to doing what I thought was good for me. So it took
me 20 years to do it. I started doing music a year ago and it’s been amazing. It all happened
quick. This time last year I was deciding to take music seriously and now I’m here, so it’s a drastic change for
me. It’s almost been word of mouth: ‘Oh you should check Jacob out’, and then
emails from managers came in. I chose a manager and it all happened.
Who are you main influences?
Westlife (laughs). No one
ever agrees with me, but I don't care. Tonight, Queen Of My Heart. Unbreakable, Coast To Coast... The first time I ever heard music was
the Westlife album. (laughs). So, Weestlife, John Mayer, Justin Nozuka, Anita Baker, Al Green, Sam
Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra, Pharcyde, Rev Run, KRS-1, Fela Kuti. When
you hear my music, you can tell there’s all sorts of different genres and input
into my music.
Comparisons are...
Fine. I don’t think I’m
like everybody. I know everybody says that, but my EP isout now so you can
judge for yourself. I think what I’ve done is I’ve taken what soul music is
supposed to be, but I can sing it over a dubstep beat. I’m making soul music
relevant to now. Being compared to Michael Kinuwaku, I can understand that, I
can see that, but I think I’m different in the sense that it’s old-skool but I’m
new-skool. I’m finding new ways to tell old stories.
What are your hopes for this year?
Musically, I want to the person that
pops straight into your mind if someone says ’What’s soul music like in the
UK?’ I want to show people that it can be done. In life, I want to remain
happy. Being happy is cool. Being able to keep it and not allowing people to
take it away is key. I want to protect my happiness.
What's the toughest part of your job?
Taking pictures. I hate pictures
so much. I have to come to terms with the way people’s perceptions of me
change. I’m still me but people that listen to my music see me as some guy that
they look up to. It’s weird. I’m only 10% of where I want to be. It’s weird. I
have a lot to live up to. I can’t let them down, these people. It’s been funny
and a blessing.
