General Jimmy

Hip-hop playlists on Spotify

I’ve been building up a hefty Spotify playlist catalogue for a while now. The one that seems to have got the most traction with other users has been my 95-99 HipHop bangers, with a three-figure subscription count.

It’s now clocking in at over seven hours too, so if you’re into late nineties hip-hop it doesn’t get much better. Well, I would say that. It’s embedded above and you can subscribe directly to it here. Best to leave on shuffle as well.

So to follow that up I’ve since added two further ones, also looking at five-year increments. They’re not quite as exhaustive yet, but all three are updated regularly (at least a few times a week). Subscribe to the imaginatively titled 90-95 Hip Hop Bangers and also 85-89 Hip Hop Bangers.

2020 will hopefully bring a slew of playlist around other years too.

Brand new show on Melodic Distraction

I bailed on the music industry as my full-time source of income in 2019. It had been a pretty rewarding arena with loads of perks, but for various reasons, it had stopped delivering everything I’d have liked it too, and the time felt right for a change.

But whilst the day job is different, me and actual music just had a little break. I still DJ from time to time, and having worked with Melodic Distraction a fair bit from my time at Skiddle I’d always thought about a show with them. I just wasn’t sure how it would work.

I finally figured on a concept I was happy with, so enter Check the Rhime. CTR will basically be a show about how great hip-hop is, celebrating the culture and the impact alongside the music too. It will look at music from the 50 year plus history of the genre, but try and avoid the obvious classics such as TROY, 93 till Infinity and CREAM, as great as they are.

[mixcloud https://www.mixcloud.com/melodicdistraction/check-the-rhime-with-general-jimmy-mina-koroma-february-20/ width=100% height=120 hide_cover=1]

The show will be at 4pm on the first Sunday of every month, kick-starting on Sunday February 2nd (the first show is now live, play it above). The show will involve quite a lucid interpretation of the genre. For me you can class Wiley as hip-hop. And Massive Atack. Flying Lotus too. Anything that shares some form of genealogy and revolves around break based sampling and/or emceeing makes the cut for me.

There are two regular features on it, Sample Example and a guest interview. The former explores some great sample material and the records they inspired, whilst the latter will feature a variety of people enthusing about why they love hip-hop. First up is Jacaranda records’ Namina Koroma on February 2nd, followed by Threshold Festival and fellow MD host Chris Carney 1st March.

For more on MD check their website.

Moscoman unleashes the ‘Wave Rave’

I’ve always quite admired Moscoman, a deft producer who makes really well thought out house and slow motion techno.

That said, his productions can sometimes be a bit low key for me. This definitely doesn’t fit that bill, coming off with all the shiny synth epicness of an Eric Pyrdz of Krystal Klear smasher but losing of that almost Weatherall esque production finesse. It’s a BIG record, one you can see tonnes of DJs turning to this summer.

It’s backed up by gargling acid and ‘Spastick drums on ‘Dinner For One’, trippy middle eastern vibes via ‘550’ and bouncy italo in the shape of ‘Space Comfort’. The EP is out on DJ DJ Tennis’s Life And Death imprint on April 26th – pre-order here.

Niv Ast & Eliezer knock out ‘The Untold Story of Del Fierro’

Israel’s electronic music scene has been on point for time, and this EP showcases why it continues to deliver on the underground.

Trippy melodies and grungy basslines, warped guitars and woozy vocals; this has got everything that’s good about punkier dance music. The duo in question, Niv Ast & Eliezer, I don;t know too much about but apparently they’re players on the Telv Aviv scene. Not hard to see why on the strength of this release. Dig it on Bandcamp from May 15th or download which is available for free below.