The Policing and Repackaging of Black Music go Hand in Hand

In light of the cancellation of JustJam at the Barbican, the 1Xtra Power List and cultural appropriation from the likes of Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus, I've written this for Media Diversified.

Too Young for Tests

Read what I've written about Labour's plans to means test Jobseeker's allowance for 18-21 year olds if they win the next election over at The Cut.

The Cut x BBNG

A couple of weeks ago BadBadNotGood flew over the Atlantic to perform across Europe. While they were in London we managed to catch a few words with the 3 virtuosos.

Read what they had to say about DOOM, Canada and their new album over at  The Cut.

120 Seconds with... BadBadNotGood

Myself, Gabriel Noble and photographer Bafic recently started a video series by the name of '120 Seconds with.' We recently created the first in the series with Canadian experimental Jazz band BadBadNotGood. Watch this space...

 

Money for Nothing

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that because I made the decision to go to university in 2012, I’ve been left feeling like a guinea pig. Despite a series of protests from hundreds of thousands of people (young and old), the current coalition government decided that they would triple tuition fees for higher education as soon as they came into power, completely ignoring the 2010 Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge to get rid of tuition fees altogether.

Earlier this week came the revelation that the new system of tuition fees will actually leave the government even more strapped for cash than they already are, whilst leaving students in three times as much debt. Back in 2010, independent think tanks had already warned the government that as the majority of students would never actually be able to pay the massive amounts of debt back, meaning...

Read the rest over at The Cut

Sampha - 'Dual' EP review

Yesterday saw the release of the eagerly awaited Sampha EP, Dual. Londoner Sampha’s managed to develop a name for himself through his recent work with artists like SBTRKT and Jessie Ware, with whom he made one of my favourite tracks of the last few years, Valentine.

In the melancholic EP’s second track, ‘Beneath the Tree,’ Sampha reminds us ‘There’s a monster inside us all,’ but Sampha's chilled out vibes seem pretty comfortable with this, and the lonely atmosphere in this track contrasts with the decadence often shown in other current male RnB such as that of The Weeknd and Jeremih.  It sets up perfectly dark, British tone we hear throughout the rest of the EP.

‘Without’ shows off Sampha’s ability to move from falsetto to a softer, more natural tone, with the changing in pitch adding to the wistful tone, particularly when Sampha opens a verse with a high pitched ‘I’m far from perfect,’ he seems to accept and yet resent his insecurities. 

'Indecision' again is a gloomy track, but unlike earlier tracks brings a sense of comfort in it's sadness. It's repeated pianos try and give even the most cynical of us a reminder that we can't hold on and  worry about making the wrong decisions, but instead we should just 'Let it all work out.'

Dual brings us more of Sampha’s haunting, mellow vocals and sombre production that any Londoner will find reminds them of home on a rainy night, and the title of the final track ‘Can’t get Close’ sums up Dual perfectly – it draws us in close, but not so close that we don't want to hear any more. 

8/10

Released 29th July 2013

A x

Aaliyah - Enough Said (ft. Drake)

I make no bones about the fact I am not a Drake fan, but I am a seriously fucking huge fan of 90's Timbaland , Missy Elliot and Aaliyah. When I heard that Drake would be producing a posthumous Aaliyah album with Timbaland and Missy completely uninvolved, I decided that I'd rather spend a night alone sleeping on the N29 than for this to happen. However, the first track is here, and it's actually pretty good. Drake's actual verse is kind of shit, but he references Balotelli so I can live with it. Obviously it goes without saying it'd probably be better if Timbaland circa 1999 and Missy were involved, but they aren't unfortunately. 

Also, was anyone else blissfully unaware that Drake has this tattoo? That's almost as creepy as the 'R Kelly getting Aaliyah pregnant and trying to marry her when she was 15' rumours.


Anyway, R.I.P baby girl xxx