2020-2021: Hip Hop grieves

The 2020 update never happened because just as I was writing it, I saw the news about MF DOOM´s death. Just like all his big fans I was shocked. And we lost many more musical heroes, iconic figures, irreplaceable individuals…

Many of these artists are foundational in where IBMCs came from, and all are respected and will be missed dearly. There is much to say about them and all their achievements but once again it’s impossible to articulate the impact these people had on the world and on me personally.

Certainly a strong element of these last years has been dealing with the realisation of how much we’ve lost and while the show goes on, we cannot go on without acknowledging this loss and somehow trying to express how much love and inspiration their music bought to us.

RIP

Biz Markie
MF DOOM
The Gift of Gab of Blackalicious
DMX
Lee Scratch Perry
Double K of People Under the Stairs
Shock G
Black Rob
Zumbi of Zion I

Crimson Presents: Marseille (Les Remixes)

This is a project from UK producer Crimson who’s love of French Hip Hop, and particularly the legendary late 90s Marseilles era, led him to create these remixes. With expert sample choices and arrangements, Crimson masterfully captures the feeling of hearing artists like IAM, Fonky Family and le 3eme OEil that exploded onto the scene 2 decades ago.

With this labour of love Crimson has taken time to craft a cohesive tracklist and fully mastered musical journey from the UK to the Southern French coast where classic Hip Hop lives forever. This is definitely an album which deserves a physical release, so watch this space…

https://crimsonbeats.bandcamp.com

The project comes at a time when Marseilles Hip Hop is in a renaissance period, with groups like Le 3eme Oeil recently dropping an EP of new material in June (Soldat) and IAM still maintaining their classic standard.

Here are some records from the IBMCs archive

2020: Never forgotten

It’s difficult to know what kind of tribute, which words to use when we suffer loses on this scale. It’s very overwhelming but also heartwarming to see through the limited lens of social media that these people will not be forgotten, the impact they made is enormous and the love the people have for them is tangible.

It’s a lot to write something about every individual listed here, but I want to say that many of them affected my life and IBMCs in profound ways, whether through friendships, musical collaborations, or simply artists who are admired for their amazing contributions to Hip Hop.

RIP to everyone we lost in 2020

Ty

Black The Ripper

Metropolis

DJ Spinbad

DJ Duke

DJ Kozi

Mike Cole

Sir Plus

Joey Deez

Malik B

Ecstasy

Stezo

George Fields – Tomorrow’s Sun release

After a four year hiatus George Fields is back with his brand new album Tomorrow’s Sun – a futuristic sounding six tracker filled with luscious soundscapes and signature drum programming. It features a host of stateside talent such as Rasheed Chappell, Phat Kat, Ill Conscious, Edo G, Eze Jackson, The Last Jazz Club, plus top quality DJs Mr. Thing and Mike B.

The project certainly shows the progression in George’s production transporting you on an otherworldly, dreamlike journey. George leaves behind his past sample based work and deploys the rich sounds from the iconic 80s synthesizer the Roland Juno 106. The Emu SP 1200 still plays a vital role, especially on tracks such as Over and Tabernacle, giving you a real 90s essence. George also collaborates with multi instrumentalist Paul DeVincenzo who brings super chilled bass-lines on tracks Reminisce and Worldwide pt 2; setting the groundwork for possible future collaborations. Detroit veteran Phat Kat makes an entry on Revelations with his trademark cadence.

Released as atomic orange and black splatter vinyl pressings with wraparound Japanese obi strips available exclusively via the UTS Records website along with the black vinyl which is being distributed to record shops around the world. If you still have a Walkman you’re in luck because it’s on cassette too! Clear cassette shells with black on body printed text and pull out J-card housed in a clear case. There is also an extremely limited apricot coloured shell distributed randomly into orders.

Tomorrow’s Sun has definitely set the foundation and is building anticipation for George’s forthcoming instrumental long play album titled The World of a Tiny Insect which is set to be released later this year.

I also want to take the time to reflect on the passing of Joey Deez, who was someone who showed support and appreciation for both George’s work and IBMCs, and was known as an absolutely lovely person by all who knew him, as well as someone who worked tirelessly and with great passion, pouring his energy into making Village Live one of the best labels around. Joey will be missed by many and his memory will remain in our hearts.

RIP Joey Deez

RIP Ty

A lot of us are shocked we’ve lost Ty. As well as a phenomenally talented emcee & artist whose inspirational styles and attitude will live forever, Ty was also someone who took the time to personally motivate and encourage many individuals including myself.

Ty pushed and expanded the boundaries of British Hip Hop culture further than anyone, a pioneering force bridging the gap between broken beat, Afrobeat, house and other genres, creating a sound that was uniquely his own and cementing his position as a worldwide star.

Loved for both his music and his character, Ty was known as a legend who remained humble and dedicated to his musicianship. He will be missed by many and his discography will stay in rotation.

 

RIP Ty

Aug 17 1972 – 7 May 2020

IBMCs in 2019

 

Another hectic year gone, 2019 saw the continuation of the building of the label with 9 new projects added, and Vol 2 Ultimate Selection compilation. We got the Hain Teny Ultimate Instrumental Selection on wax, and Sir Beans OBE & MC Kelz Anthology on limited digipak CD. We put out our first Jazz/Hip Hop concept album ‘Your Monster Inside’ from Russian multi-instrumentalist & producer Aleksander Skomorokha and friends, featuring remix work by Dr.Drumah (Brasil), TactiK (USA), NonStop (France), Beatchukaz (Serbia), Bless1 (USA) & 3CNB (UK).

As well as instrumental projects from Ogi Feel The Beat & Nella G. Fella, TactiK and Pandamonium, we closed out the year with a triple bounty of instrumental versions from Marc Swing & Wildelux’s excellent Open Letters, Sir Beans OBE & Kelz’ classic anthology and D-Tension’s Violence of Zen.

Special thanks goes out to all the artists involved and people supporting the label.

In 2020 we intend to do more of the same – watch this space for more details!

So much dope shit came out this year, here’s a few highlights – new releases from IAM, Black Moon, Gang Starr, XP & IceRocks, Kingdem, Klashnekof, Junior Disprol, DJ Shadow & Seanie T…there’s so much more out there!

 

RIP to legendary Bushwick Bill who will never be forgotten

December 8, 1966, Kingston, Jamaica – died June 9, 2019, Houston, Texas

 

Label news: 2019 first quarter

Busy as usual and continuing on from January’s smasher from Marc Swing & Wildelux –  ‘Open Letters’, we’re now approaching our 40th release. We’ve got 3 new projects from Ogi Feel The Beat & Nella G. Fella (A Dutchman and a Serbian), Exeter based (UK) turntablist and producer Pandamonium and Bristol Legends Sir Beans OBE & MC Kelz.

The ‘OgiNellament’ project is am instrumental collaboration between 2 producers, keeping things jazzy and lofi, while DJ Pandamonium’s ‘Sample Everything’, also instrumental is a heavy boombap ode to all the influences Panda throws into his mix from Nintendo to Rave Culture. Speaking of Serbians, the latest Hain Teny ‘Ultimate Instrumental Selection’ is now available on CD as well.

The Sir Beans OBE & MC Kelz CDs are a limited run of tracks compiled between 2012-2018, including 3 new unreleased tracks, only 50 copies made. Kelz is an emcee with a discography stretching back to the late 80s, and Beans is known as one of the top producers in the UK keeping the sound rugged and raw. Together they create high quality hip hop that definitely deserves a wider audience but is respected by heads worldwide nevertheless. Grab your copy now from: https://ibmcs1.bandcamp.com/

Marc Swing Presents Wildelux Open Letters

Wildelux is a Bronx emcee I first came across on the DJ Lord Ron 12 inch ‘BX 2 LA Konnect’ released in 2005 when he went under the name Willmatic. I was struck by the dense lyrical styles on that record and still play it a lot, but lost track of this obviously super talented emcee until I heard him on DJ Brans’ 2012 album The Branstorm. Subsequent featurings on DJ Brans’ follow up (Endless) and albums by producers Azaia, Propo’88, DJ Lowcut and Superior ensured he was one to watch in the international underground. Consistently releasing quality projects with Ol Dayz from France, Macapella from the UK and Roccwell from Germany, this worldwide explosion of lyrical energy continues with Marc Swing Presents Open Letters.

On this album, Swedish producer Marc Swing delivers a great selection of banging productions for Wildelux to get busy on, ripping intelligent and visually descriptive sagas, covering topics such as the treatment and experience of refugees (Let’s Go), the trivia of the modern internet news age (Bla Bla Bla), the observations on society generally from a perspective which shows an unusual depth on many tracks (A View Out of My Window, Life of a Goldfish). Open Letters is an album which will take many listens to get everything out of, but only one to get instantly hooked by. Be on the look out for this album on CD and vinyl coming soon. We’re also looking forward to hearing more from Wildelux soon with the highly anticipated follow up to 2011’s Masterplan with Macapella.

Check the first video for the album, ‘Bla Bla Bla’ featuring Black Fist

https://ibmcs1.bandcamp.com/album/open-letters

IBMCs in 2018

At the start of the year IBMCs Beats Vol 5 was completed featuring instrumental contributions from 25 producers, and hopefully we can follow that up with Vol 6 in 2019. Taking us onto the summer we released a bumper crop of 8 albums from LRS, D-Tension, 3CNB, Ruth Koleva, Individu & Wispo, DJ Jaymob, Uzee The Bovvaking & Grolok Panicrum, and DJ Nice.

Since the last update in the summer, 2018 was a serious year of releases from IBMCs, having formed a rock solid partnership with Mr Grim Productions to create CDs and records and with Labohr for cassette tapes. Many thanks to all the contributing artists once again, starting with Dr. Drumah’s album on orange wax, then MG Gost’s Walking Walk instrumentals on white wax and back to black for D-Tension’s Violence of Zen LP. Later in the year we also managed to drop projects from UK’s Crimson and a selection from France’s DJ Veekash, as well as a Hain Teny Collective instrumental selection. Last but not least, copies of Strange Man Called Seb’s debut 12 inch are still available so be sure to check in on the bandcamp and support some of the new releases. Peace!

https://ibmcs1.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

20 Years of IBMCs – 40 interviews!

 

40 interviews and Q&As with: DJ Krush, Breis, Slug, Freddie Foxx, Beat Butcha, Vice, Karl Hinds, DJ Mehdi, Hill Top Hoods, KAOS, Muneshine, Stalley, Concept, Main Flow, Trainspotters, ASM (A State of Mind), El Cerebro, Viva Fidel, Azrael, Deams, LMNZ, Joshua Atesh Litle, Rasul (LCOB), Muhamidda El Muhajir, Marina Terkoufi, Redrama, Jonti & Shaka, Lainen Kasperi, RA The Rugged Man, MOD The Black Marvel, DJ Modesty, DJ Premier, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Donald D, Reks, Jurassic 5, Seb da Head, Jazz Spastiks & Giallo Point.