Marvin Sparks

I was supposed to do more of these posts. Guess I kinda forgot. Forgive moi. Check an earlier post I did here . So Drake is getting sued for Best I Ever Had AGAIN!!! This song is proving way too much controversy. First the Breast I Ever Had video which mandem loved, females loathed (jealous ones will always envy (joking ladies, Iiiiiiiiii-e-iiiii will always love... your sexy friend), then the other rapper/producer, Kia Shine, that said Drake stole the melody from a demo he gave to Lil Wayne, (or could be the other way around), now this. Sound alike? Most definitely. Quite blatantly chopped and looped the sample. You could hear it was a sample from day. But I don't care, Boi1da is a sick guy for that! Samples are sometimes classed as lazy. Remember when people cussed Kanye for the sped-up soul samples? I don't agree with that. To hear a song, especially a song I've never heard before, think "if I take that bit, loop it twice, take that bit, place it there, I can make

Did you like my title? I'm proud of that. Think its flipping creative, albeit one extra syllable but if you say it fast enough it all fits in. Anyway, yes you read correctly Imagine that! Last year, let's be honest Tinie Tempah was relatively unknown, this year he is brought out by a hip hop Godfather to perform his own tune that Snoop has jumped on. Pity the old bloke didn't know the lyrics to his verse so mimed, but Snoop adlib-ing for you is something from a different kind of dream. This time last week I was banging Dr. Dre's The Chronic album followed by Snoop's debut Doggystyle. Both still knock hard to this day. I doubt Tinie would have thought he would be here this time, this year. I wonder which MC's are hating on him behind his back about his copied flow from Nicki Minaj now. Big up Tinie Tempah anywhere you deh! May as well post this too. I'm sure you must have heard this by now, Diddy, Tinchy (Stryder) & Tinie (Tempah) - Hello, Good Morning re

My good chum Sway drops this FIYAH freestyle over Too Short's 'Blow The Whistle' (produced by Lil' Jon) Sick verses, barrage of punchlines, hilarious + creative video = win! If you wanna know why Sway's my boy, check this post + the comment from the man himself. He holla'd at me on Twitter to review his mixtape, check that here . Oh yeah, Sway, you can re-follow me on Twitter now. I take it you didn't like the review of your mixtape? Never mind that chale I'd just like to say Lil' Jon is one of the most underrated producers of the last decade. People forget all the bangers he had between 2003-2005. Probably because he became a parody of himself with his catchphrases, plus Dave Chapelle mocked the hell out of him. He was the only producer seeing Scott Storch them days. Even Scotty bit from him. Who remembers E-40 lead Hyphy movement was coming to take over the wold like Crunk did after Chopped and Screwed? Always knew that would fail. Same feeling I

Feeling this tune. The girl from that "emo"-pop group Paramore (Hayley Williams) sounds good on this. Always thought she could sing. Really feeling B.o.B. This should be another number 1 for him unless he's unlucky with a release of an Elvis re-release or Dizzee Rascal Commercial Hip-hop seems to be returning to some sanity following the many years of Laffy Taffy, Soulja Boi, Flo-Rida nonsense. Drake and BoB seem to be redressing the balance of rappers that aren't from the same cloth as TI, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Jeezy who either are gangsta or portray gangsta (portray? I meant lie Lil' Wayne and Rick Ross), but make quality music.

I like this. Don't think it's a smash or anything, it's a nice warmer "I'm back" type track. Interested to see what else she has up her sleeve. I'll tell you what, Baby Blue looks much better in the video than she does in real life. Always been one of my favourite femcee's from Channel U days. Sometimes with Selah (yes, 'Woman's World' Selah) was hard. Wretch still one of my favourite UK rappers. On his day, not many touch him. Cherri V looking very buxom at the end. Nice looking talented girl, good voice and performer, but what the hell is doing with absolutely crap song Silent Lover? The beat isn't bad, the lyrics, melodies and all that stuff she does is good but not together. Sorry. This should have been a remix. Spoiled what could have been a good song Anyway, back to Baby Blue, here is 'Sometimes'

Shouts to Skepta on this one. Different, but good. Don't you hate when people call things different like that alone is a compliment? Just because it's different, doesn't make it good. This is though. The locals on at least 2 of the holiday islands will love him for this one. According to the good folks over at YouTube comment section "Oyenama sikidim sikidim" means something along the lines of "Don't dance like that shaking your body" and "oynama means don't play, dunno what sikidim is" I guess it's safe to say there isn't a direct translation. Not to say YouTube is gospel mind you. Samples Turkish legend Tarkan. He is to Turkey what Daddy Lumba is to Ghana, what Paul McCartney is to England This isn't the first time he has been sampled by pop culture (you know what I mean Skepta). Recognise this? Yeah that's right, the Aussie bird from Neighbours, no not Kylie, Holly Valance sampled it. You thought she was naked in th

This song by the dude who used to be with Katy Perry (Travis McCoy), teamed up with the dude from B.o.B's smash Nothin' On You (Bruno Mars) was brought to my attention. Reggae-lite x hip-hop to promote a message of capitalism, like wealth is the route to happiness? Rasta nuh promote dem deh ting deh. Still a catchy song though, I'll give it that. The above song reminds me of the following song. I'm sure it's because Travis McCoy reminds me of the lead dude from Arrested Development NOT because of the light-skinned factor (I don't think anyway). But they adopt a slight reggae style ("Buda by by by"), Travis is on a slight reggae beat... Either way this tune was BIG! Conscious messege. Arrested Development - People Everyday Thought I'd turn this into a continuation of the FlashBack Friday from last week where I celebrated the chees reggae songs. Pato Banton & UB40 'Baby Come Back' ("And mi CD collection of Bob Marley") UK #1 UB4

If you haven't seen this, watch it. Even if you hate his music, you can't hate the man. Isn't it funny, one of hip-hop's realest rappers used to be an actor? Why then are there so many actors rapping? Rick Ross, Lil Wayne and most of the other gun slinging, drug peddling rappers should feel ashamed for lying! Many people have been asking what I think of the album, asking me to review it, but I must confess that I haven't heard it. I don't care if I'm considered late, I WILL review it at some time. If you wanna read a review of my current favourite album of the year (Distant Relatives by Nas & Damian Marley), click here

Now, I don't know if you saw my tweet yesterday about Natty, born Alexander Akiloe Philip Modiano. If you did, thanks for following, if not, I'm gonna repeat/expand on it. I don't get the guy. To me it seems as if he's pimping his dreadlocks making reggae-lite songs, with a faux-Jamaican accent, trying to be conscious like what is expected of him as a man with dreadlocks. Disclaimer: even if he is part of one of the 12 tribes to disprove how I described him, "Natty, this is your life... (Michael) Aspel" #DrakeBar. I miss the days when reggae-lite songs were actually good. Today's FlashBack Friday is dedicated to a time when reggae was in-demand commercially. Regularly charting in UK Top 10s, regular spins on the radio and TV channels (The Box "Music Television you control"). I know there are a bunch of guilty pleasure songs in this list. Don't be afraid to say you like them lol So Natty, here's how you do it. A whole bunch of guys with d

If you don't know what a #DrakeBar is, play with traffic. Nah, but really, make sure it's a dual carriage way minimum. Ok, ok for real now, a #DrakeBar is basically the laziest form of rapping out right now. It's word association which has taken the form of metaphors for punchlines. You know punchlines? The style that killed lyricism? That's a whole next topic. This style was actually popularised by Lil' Wayne, but for some reason people forget that. Since Drake, this style has been the most bastardised thing amongst UK rappers ever. It's comparable to UK Funky artists shouting "OLLY OLLY OLLY" (which was actually "Oggy oggy oggy"). Actually, maybe not. UK Hip Hop's version of Ed Hardy/Evisu. But yeah, an (ok level) example would be "She aint got no body - Chaka Khan" (that's my bar. Made it up the other day. Don't steal) Did you catch that? "Aint" "Nobody" is a "Chaka Khan" song. For a 6 mi

Some may see this as a stupid blog post, I think it's mildly funny so I've posted it. I'm sure you don't mind All I can say is; imagine if he kept his phone in the same place as Ashley Cole/Jermaine Jenas ("allegedy") has done... now THAT would be interesting MASSIVE NO HOMO Oh yeah, World Cup has been absolutely pants so far. Here's to hoping tomorrow is as good as the line-up suggests. Portugal vs Ivory Coast, and Brazil vs North "Bomb Atomically (Socrates philosophies and hypothesis can't define how I be dropping these mockeries...)" Korea Ahhhhhhhhh for the hell of it, I'm gonna post the track where the lyrics were taken from. If you didn't know it was Triumph by Wu-Tang, and claim to like hip-hop, your claim has been rejected. No win, no fee, but it's an almighty loss to your credibility. That's the greatest opening bars of any song ever!!!

Alright, alright, I know you probably read the title and thought "That album's old, man. Why you reviewing this?" Well, I know we are in the digital age where yesterday's news is literally yesterday's news, BUT this album, to me, is... well let me tell you why I've waited so long to share my opinion on it. Apart from not having time to write it, I wanted to make sure my review wasn't knee jerk. Let me tell you why I could have got gassed: Nas was one of the first rappers I would say I was a fan of (bar Will Smith and MC Hammer) along with DMX and LOX. I used to rinse I Am on cassette tape back in the day. I was too young to know/have acquired the first two albums at time of their release. I have since listened and become a fan of both. Damian Marley won a Grammy for Half Way Tree, but I like most became a fan after Welcome To Jamrock. Who didn't like that song? To this day, the album remains classic to me. In fact, I listened to it 3 times in the week

The time every football fan looks forward to is finally here again! Only once every 4 years, the greatest football competition in the World obviously. 3 football matches a day is going to be great. Most of the best footballers in the world will be on display against the best teams. A competition where only the real survive. A competition where legacy's are sealed. As you may or may not know, we always have songs to show support to the England team over here. Some wanker has blocked every single video for the official England song by Dizzee Rascal and comedian James Corden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLVt7o7yJ1s Songs crap anyway, so wouldn't wanna post it (bitter. Spoilt my post now). It's all about Mr. John Barnes rapping. Thankfully Mars have rejuvenated his career in their new advert. Hold tight Ms. Bell's skanks (chick wearing black and white) The original was done for Italia 1990. Bobby Robson's England team got the furthest of any England team I know (semi

Shouts to http://pinboardblog.com/ One of the first rappers I became a fan of, still rate Dark Man X to this day, no matter what his music is like or the troubles he has gone through. This is a must see! Like "watch it right now" must see. Details the struggles, abuse and success followed by struggles and abuse. DMX album launch for 'Year of the Dog' was the first (music) "industry" party I went to in my whole life. Sony BMG street team days; hold tight Reggie Styles & Redz. The only other rapper I'd be genuinely interested in seeing on these levels are Eminem and possibly 50 Cent (although I think I've seen a lot of things documenting his life, including the abysmal 'Get Rich or Die Trying' film). To me, DMX epitomises hip-hop; probably due to the fact I grew up on his music, but moreso due to the expression of raw emotions, not that pretentious nonsense or glorification of fabricated lifestyles. Funny thing I noticed while watching; Irv

Well apart from being on the same shit song They both have the same enormous head! Flippin 'ell mate, some P&O cruise liner boat's going on there. No disrespect to Nathan, he's a cool guy (same can't be said for Flo Rida), but that was the main thing I noticed about the video. The song couldn't have taken longer than 10 minutes to write. Also, what's going on with using the same move as Justin Timberlake in Carry Out? You know the slide then knee lift skank. What, new ting for Napa 010? If the vacant beat is distracting you from the "lyrics" in this song, here is an acoustic version done by SBTV Remember when r'n'b had emotion? Now it just needs to be catchy and uptempo. Put a corny rapper on there (or Ludacris) and you're half way there. Remember 'Come Into My Room' Nathan? He was one of the first (and still one of about 3?) UK rnb dudes post-Craig David to get street love. The good old days when Choice FM was, erm, good. Can&#

Rusko featuring Amber Coffman 'Hold On'. Just posting this coz it's hard 'Ang tight Rusko. Doing a lot right now, working with some big US pop acts. This is the most female friendly non-dubstep fan dubstep song I've personally heard. I listen to dubstep every now and again (hold tight Mista Jam's daily dose of dubstep, BBC 1Xtra 7-10pm Mon-Thurs), but I'm not into it fully like keep up to date with it. I know dubstep fans get really aggravated by incorrect information, so thought I'd state that before people start e-verbally jousting with me. If this isn't dubstep to you, or you'd prefer to call it a sub-genre, I apologise. Either way it's a chyoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon anOther (I like the way that looks. I wrote 'Other', then changed it to 'antoher'. That looks stylish innit?) tune I'm feeling is Meleka 'Miss Me', but it doesn't appear to be on YouTube (unless I'm typing the wrong thing into th

Brought to you by Nicholas Marston and KG the Comedian a.k.a. Shadrack and the Mandem, reformed characters have gone from being the "criminals" to catching the "criminals" These guys are really smart with their comedy, rate them highly. Storyline and twist/punchline were top draw. Script (most probably improvisation) could have been stronger (a bit of repetition) but who the hell came up with the ending?! These guys are nuts!!! And the acting is good too. All I wanna know, when is the show doe? Commissioners get on the case. Too many nonsense comedy about.