A blog written in English about Swedish hiphop!
Medina recently released the video to their track “Sagoland” from their mixtape “Varsågod De E Gratis Vol 2″. The video is, like their previous video “Ni Vet Vad”, directed by Blue Milk Media.
I would also like to recommend all of you who haven’t visited their website yet to do it, Sam-e and Alibi are really generous and all their previous releases are available for free!
After some trouble with their studio computer, Professor P and DJ Akilles has finally managed to get their studio in order so that they can start recording again. To celebrate this they’re releasing a newly recorded track called “From The Heart”. It’s recorded over a DJ Premiere beat which is called “Dink” and can be found on his record “Beats that Collected Dust vol.1.”.
Dj Akilles and Professor P will soon begin work a new EP which, in their own words, will be the greatest and most sincere EP that Sweden has ever seen! The sound will be even older boombap mixed with great musicians, a lot of scratching and a few singers. I really like what I’ve heard from the good professor so far so I’m really excited about how the upcoming EP will sound like.
When Ken Ring released his last album, “Äntligen Hemma” he stated that it would be his last album as a rapper and that he from that point on would focus on producing. Fortunately he changed his mind and is now, the same year that he’s celebrating 10 years as an artist, releasing his 10th album. The album is called “Hiphop” and will be released sometime during May on Pope Records.
The first single from this album is also called “Hiphop” and it describes his career and life in music.
The track is availible exclusively from Axel Björklunds blog at Dn På Stan.
A couple of days ago Lazee released his mixtape “First Class Five Stars” exclusively through Kingsize Magazine. In comparison to his debut this mixtape is a step back towards a more hip-hop oriented sound and it feels like he has put more work into this mixtape than, “Back for the 1st time”. With that being said I still don’t think that this mixtape even comes close to matching his first mixtape “It Is What It Is”, the main reason why I’m writing this is because the mixtape contains the remix to Kano’s track “Hustler” which also features Adam Tensta.
Tracklist
01. Intro
02. Dreamin’
03. I’m The Truth
04. Pusherman ft. J-Son
05. Love No More
06. Hustler (Remix) feat. Kano & Adam Tensta
07. Old School Find A Way (Freestyle)
08. Clap, Stomp ‘08
09. Getting Gwap ft. Tyron Catre
10. I’m A Boss ft. Fresh
11. Europe’s Best ft. Skrilla Kidz
12. I Guess That’s Life
13. Train Of Thoughts (Freestyle)
14. Ex Girl
In between shooting the video for the first single of his upcoming album and teaching rap at a hiphop-school, Promoe still manages to keep his promise of releasing one track each month. Today he’s releasing his march-track, called “The Logic of Dreams”, through Looptroop Rockers homepage. The track is produced by Astma & Rocwell who has also been involved in all of the previous tracks this year and Promoe has this to say about the track:
“It was recorded during one of many late night sessions in Astma’s studio (just like ‘New Day’ and ‘Blind’ were), when people finally have stopped calling and emailing for the day. A perfect time to be creative. Enjoy!”
Click here to download “The Logic of Dreams” (right click and chose save as…)
Promoe is also sharing a track that he recorded in 2005 together with Cosmic and Tenor Diamond. The track is called “Bureaucrazy” and for those of you who haven’t heard it before I really recommend you to download it!
Click here to download “Bureaucrazy” (right click and chose save as…)
“Crash and Burn” is the fourth single from Form One’s album “Behind Blue Eyes” which was rewarded with both a Swedish Grammy nod and a nomination for best hiphop/soul album of the year at P3 Gold Awards.
The video to “Crash and Burn” has just been released and like two of his latest videos, “Falling Down” and “Money feat. Vincent“, it’s directed and shot by Tobias Martinsson. The stop motion within the video is made by Syskonen Brogren.
Henok Achido first entered the spotlight in 2001 when he featured on the group Fattaru’s debut single “Mina hundar”. Henok, who stood out with his fast rap and different flow, joined Fattaru on their tour through Scandinavia. It looked like he had a bright future in hip hop, but instead of riding on the hype he chose to take a step away from the spotlight to work further on his skills.
Nothing new was to be heard from him until 2007 when he released “That Fucking Guy EP” for free through his homepage. The EP was well received and he quickly gained a reputation as one of the most promising rappers on the Swedish scene.
Two years after his return to the spotlight the debut album is finally here. Henok has managed to build an incredible hype around this album and he even gained the attention of some of the biggest hip hop blogs in the world, like NahRight and RealTalkNY. Because of this my expectations were set very high when I received the album. To my big relief he manages to meet these expectations and delivers confident lyrics with an amazing flow.
The electro-wave that is currently taking Sweden (and hip hop in general it seems) is also present on the album, but instead of club-friendly disco the sound on Almaz Charming Child is instead rather dark and dystopic. The beats and, for such a large group of producers, the surprisingly held-together sound of the album is produced by some of Swedens most talented producers such as DJ Large, Filthy, Astma and Michel Rocwell.
The very frequently used auto-tune effect can also be found on the album, and is used on the dark track “Heartbreak Hotel” which is reminiscing to the sound on Kanye West’s latest album. But whereas Kanye, according to me, uses auto-tune to the point where it’s unbearable to listen to Henok manages to make it almost seamlessly float into the sound and lift the song.
Everything about Almaz Charming Child isn’t great though. Because even if he has a flow that can lift an otherwise mediocre song and he has some of Swedens most talented producers featured on the album I can’t help feeling that the lyrics are a bit repetitive after a while. There’s to many lyrics about his own greatness and to few lyrics with a bit of depth. Henok’s got swagger that some only dream about and because of this he shouldn’t have to tell you that in so many of the songs. It’s in the songs with a deeper meaning he really shines and shows you what a talented artist he really is. Like on the powerful track “High On Life (When The Drugs Don’t Work)” where the beat is scaled down in favor for his voice and lyrics, which reflects what I wished there was more of on this album:
“It seems like everybody loves my flow, but what’s a flow without a heart, I must touch your soul”
Despite all this, Almaz Charming Child is a very strong album which undoubtedly lives up to the hype and will follow me throughout the year!
A swedish version of this review (which is slightly longer) is avaliable through the Whoa Blog!
Other Reviews:
City (5/5), Dn (3/5), GP (4/5), Kristianstadsbladet (4/5), Metro (3/5), Sydsvenskan (4/5), SVD (3/5), Sonic (8/10), Dagens Skiva (8/10)
