GET SOME UK UK MUSIC, ART AND CULTURE

I just stumbled across this little gem. Head over to this link and type your name in to receive your 90s rap name. You can call me Smoove S Tha Magnanimous Thug from now on. Word.

Out to Al and TW for bringing this one to my attention. The perfect marriage of 90s house and hip-hop, and a pretty dope video too. Check it out. Free download here.

The original ‘G’ in Garage. No word of a lie, Grant’s production style in early-mid 90’s House was one of a few key sounds that veered off and became a foundation of Garage. Under a plethora of guises, Grant’s early years were hugely prolific, with the large proportion of his early classics coming through the Nice’n’Ripe stable. Now, being an avid fan and a continual follower of the mans work it would be easy to start spouting about his fundamental role in the development of Funky House in the late 90’s. But he’s got enough of a legacy to merit a part 2 further down the line where we talk about latter waves in his stylistic development. For now, let’s take it back to 1994 and jam a little to some serious underground House and Garage classics from a man who deserves a lot more than a nod.

As an introductory taster or for those that might have forgotten where it all started, we pulled a couple of classics in for your listening pleasure.

OK, so, ideally I would have a direct link to the track in question, but I searched the web high and low to no avail. I even tried uploading the mix from which I first heard this, but that didn’t work either. I have no other choice but to suggest you go direct to the same source I did. It’s worth it. If you are in anyway unfamiliar with the ridiculously solid body of work by 808 State then you’ll be doing yourself a favour anyway. But, as this post is generally about one specific track I have to insist that you skip through to Track 26 (starts coming in to the mix at about 51:12) in Dunfyboy’s 808 State Mix. I’m talking about a serious remix of an already serious rave anthem; Cubik. Widely recognised for it’s distinctive cascading synth stabs, the original tore up warehouses and dancefloors the world over when it was originally released as a B-side to one of 808 State’s singles. A few years later Jon Carter gave it the Monkey Mafia treatment and released, what you will hear, sounds not too dissimilar to the vibe in some of The Bug’s work from a few years back. Heavy ragga undertones with punchy, aggressive programming that wouldn’t sound out of place in some of the tougher edge Funky sets I’ve heard of late.

If you have any trouble finding it, it’s the track directly after MC Tunes ‘The only rhyme that bites’, and if you don’t know that then here it is for your guidance…

PS Dunfyboy has a lot of other decent genre and artist specific mixes that are worth some serious ear time. Check it out.

Dunfy: If you’re listening mate, can you hit us with some Soundcloud love

Now this is a distinctive track if ever there were one. I’m not too hot about the vocal version but the dub totally sums up the direction in some early house productions that spawned the garage sound. You gotta love those spooky synths and swinging drums. It was produced by a chap named Miles Morgan who also had some success in the early 90′s with his efforts under the Mount Rushmore moniker. Check it, it’s worth a bump.