dj mk - above board
dj mk came to my own attention via a hip hop connection mixtape in which he took some classics by the beatnuts and let rip. a fine fine cover mount. so when i heard that antidote had lined him up for a proper album, i was on the waiting list immediately. and boy it has been worth the wait for those of us that currently prefer the homegrown variant of hip hop, as mk has pulled in favours across the game and assembled quite a supporting vocal cast for these 20 tracks. basically, this mixtape is a fine summation of the current state of play of the scene, with such hard hitters as rodney p, roots manuva, skinnyman, jehst, mystro, fallacy, plan b etc etc etc etc etc etc all dropping by to pay their respects for the man on the decks.
the cuts range from the expected cut-n-paste scratched up madness in the self titled intro, to the old school scratched loopy chaos of 'my show', the hugely smile inducing, big band cut up of 'left handed 1 foot skank' by kyza and pirelli and far too many other hard hitting drop dead classics. of course over the 20 tracks there are a few dips, but mk brings the final section of the track listing by lowering the mood and almost setting a smooth emotional finale with such mellowness by yun gun and mr thing ('cross my heart') that any dips are quickly forgiven. also, mk has avoided the usual traps of mixtapes by adding some more variety in the production by dropping some cuts that have been produced by other studio beats such as hop hop hope, p*nut, skitz, dj mentat, and farma, making the mix flow a lot more pleasantly as there is no one particular sonic styling. so if the hard-n-heavy electro bounce of the earlier section gets a little to intense, then hang on cos here comes an old school bob james styled jazzy piano beat to caress your nodding head (sireman, mentat and mk).
ah. sod it. uk hip hop - you read about it - so now it's time to listen to it. old heads, and new comers, just buy this superb mix and listen to why this is a lot more interesting lyrically and sonically then anything coming out of usa in 2006.
track listing :
1. Intro - DJ MK
2. My Show - DJ MK & Fallacy
3. Left Handed 1 Foot Skank - Kyza & Pirreli
4. Suduko - Loudmouth
5. Pass That - Plan B & Shameless
6. Product Of The Environment - Mystro & DJ MK
7. It Girlz - D.Molish & Farma/Chester/Ramson Badbonez
8. Where I Wanna Be - Sireman & Mentat/DJ MK
9. Tales Of A Kingpin - DJ MK & Stylah
10. Dedication 2006 - Mr. Ti2bs
11. Mus Bus - Dutty Goodz
12. Dynamite Sound - Jehst
13. Put You Down - Skinny Man
14. Taking Medication - Ramson Badbonez & Harry Love
15. MC's - Nomadic Poet
16. Work - Apollo & Kope
17. Walk Thru The Fire - DJ MK & Roots Manuva/Rodney P
18. Sorry - Lowkey
19. Cross My Heart - Yun Gun & Mr. Thing
20. Against The Grain - Doc Brown & DJ MK