So I been bumping the homie Mick Jenkins mixtapes for a minute now and his music is in regular circulation on my ItchFM BigPromoShow, ‘Trees & Truths‘ & ‘The Waters’ got hammered. UK Hip Hop heads have been keenly awaiting this new ‘Waves’ EP and his impending show, apparently its been sold out for over a month. I got the call to head up to Sony HQ UK and do a lil informal interview with the Chi Town native, bumped into Max Robins (Mick’s manager) downstairs and we chopped it up. Despite being in press all day and not seeing me till 4pm, Mick was remarkably upbeat, jovial and full of humour. His demeanour was smartly dressed and dude is way taller than my initial expectations.

The Show :-

It’s an early evening soiree, set in the urban scenery that is Oslo, an intimate venue in Hackney..It’s  packed to the rafters with music industry folk, tastemakers and super trendies, you could feel the electric atmosphere. Opening up the set with LIVE band was the passionate performance from ‘The Mind’ . The Mind is a singer, originally from Philly who moved to the Chi and has forged a significant musical affinity with Mick Jenkins.

Mick headlines the event and performs for the best part of 45 minutes, hand picking and rolling through material from his body of works, EVERY song passionately recited word for word and bar for bar by his audience. Mick getting the whole audience to repeat the phrase ‘Drink More Water’ after the majority of his songs. Waxing lyrical with humour about the protective UK fans YouTube comments in reference to Kano, after he uploaded his new song P’s & Q’s !

Watch Mick Jenkins – Hurt Everybody

Watch Mick Jenkins – The Waters

Listen back to Mick Jenkins Itch FM Interview :-

Socials :-

@thadboogie

@mickjenkins

@themindmusic

It’s now October in London Town and it’s becoming increasingly autumnal (fall to my stateside famalam). It’s another hectic runaround week in the world of the Big Promo team. Its Monday Oct 19th, and if you’re a fan of Hip Hop all roads were supposed to lead to the legendary Jazz Cafe in Camden Town, headlining the bill were 90s boom bap legends Das EFX and Lords Of The Underground. (alas Das EFX were not issued UK work visas) The venue was subsequently changed to The Garage, Highbury Corner and in their replacement was Jeru The Damaja, flown in from his current hometown of Berlin.The nite commenced with veteran DJ and crate digger Chris Read, kicking things off, and got the partisan 90’s appreciation crowd amped. Jeru was accompanied on the 1’s & 2’s by UK Hip Hop stalwart DJ 279 (aka Numbers). After rocking the near to capacity crowd with a string of hits spanning two decades, Jeru brought out surprise guest Psycho Les from the legendary Beatnuts to perform a few of their club anthems. A master of crowd interaction and showing his knowledge of the UK Hip Hop scene, Jeru and Psycho Les left the stage to rapturous applause and foghorns.

The headline act of the night was Lords Of The Underground who rarely make it to the UK shores, as they acknowledged not since the 90’s supporting EPMD. first to bless the stage was their DJ, well reknowned Lord Jazz, followed by DoItAll and Mr Funke kitted out in UK affiliated tee shirts, the show was energy driven with Lords performing hits ‘Chief Rocka, Tic Toc, Here Come The Lords, Funky Child‘ etc.. The crowd going absolutely nuts throughout the whole show, the highlight probably been their rendition of Chief Rocka and DJ Lord Jazz solo performance, showcasing his DJ skills !

Lords of the Underground ‘Chief Rocka’ live in London 19.10.15

Socials :-

@thadboogie

@lotug1

@jeruthedamaja

@_psycholes

The last week or so in the big smoke (London) has been another frantic melting pot of events and music activities, very exhausting but ooohhhh so rewarding.

Sunday Sept 13^th was the return of Rocnation RnB starlette Melanie Fiona at the O2 Academy in Angel, after a five year hiatus from her UK fans.

Supporting act Tammy J was predominantly a keyboard acoustic set and accompanied by dancers, she won the crowd over with her powerful and controlled vocal skills. Whist the gospel like vocals of female singing sensation BlackGrape absolutley had peops goin wild.

Looking stunning in a black flouncy dress set off with high heeled ankle boots and completed with a wide brimmed style fedora hat, the partisan audience was interestingly 70% female.

The band were an accomplished 3 piece outfit and the show was an exhibition into tight musicianship executed with impeccable vocals.

Ironically on the same evening, across the river in south London at a venue in Brixton called POW, we had a rare appearance from Brooklyn, NYC 90s boom bap crew Smif N Wessun.

The duo of Tek & Steele have been releasing music for two decades and the Hip Hop community in general were recently stunned at the death of their sometimes rap collaborator Sean Price (Boot Camp Click)

The atmosphere was electric and in contrast to Melanie Fiona’s gig, the testosterone levels were high in the building.

Running through underground rap classics like Bucktown, Soundbwoy Burial, Wreckonnize all to exuberant screams and shouts for reloads. Click image to see video !

Tuesday Sept 15^th, was the Amnesty International gig at XOYO, it featured an eclectic line up of reggae enthused Deadly Hunta, nougties UKG mc Flirta D, noughties Hackney rap sensation Klashnekoff and the headline act for the evening being legendary top 3 selected rapper Ghetts. The venue though not full to capacity did pick up and by the time of the headline act, the energy levels in the building went through the roof.

The icing on the cake being when Ghetts brought out fellow mc signed to Island/Universal man like Devlin, and they indeed did put on a memorable performance. Shouts to PropUpMusic for hosting the event, click the photo to see Ghetts performance.

Wednesday Sept 16^th, all roads led back to the O2 Academy in Angel for rhyming sensation Little Simz ‘A Curious Tale Of Trials & Persons’ album launch, Simz is a young 21 year old rapper whom I’ve been supporting for the best part of 5 years. I got her to headline my Camden Crawl Festival ‘Lift Off’ event last year.. She’s been performing all over the globe and already supported Schoolboy Q, and has been endorsed by Hip Hop luminars like Kendrick Lamar amongst others. The band were very on point and her audience interaction was exceptional. Much of the excited audience knew word for word songs from her previous mixtapes but the vibe went to another level when she brought of UK rap legend Kano and new rap sensation Stormzy to rap on her ‘Dead Body’ remix

Thursday Sept 16^th was the 1^st Rated Awards put together by online music platform GRMDaily in conjunction with KA Drinks. Many personnel involved in UK urban music attended this virgin event; it’s a hi bred of The Mobo Awards and The Urban Music Awards (UMA’s), the last decade of UK Black music has increased it fanbase due to technology and the internet, the festivities at The Clapham Grand has live performances from Section Boyz, Ghetts, Little Simz, Giggs etc. The legacy award and performance from Kano were inspirational, a professional hosting job by Manny Norte !

For a FULL list of winners and categories click the RatedAwards image !

Congrats to Posty & Pierre (GRMDaily) for a successful event recognising UK urban talent !

 Hip Hop is alive and kicking in the big smoke.

#BigPromo

@thadboogie

Okay so I been bumping Skyzoo’s music  for a minute now; I know bout the homie’s superfluous rap skillz from his battle days on BET’s 106 & Park freestyle contest against man like Jin.. Skyzoo a Brooklynite from day is an 80s kid reppin Crown Heights but spent much of his youth in Bedford-Stuyvesant (home of Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z.)

Skyzoo’s career jump started by getting tracks for ESPN and Guinness beer and repping with North Carolina rap crew the Justus League. Dude also worked with production heroes 9th Wonder & the peoples champion Jay Dee (Dilla) !!! Detroit stand up..

To date, Skyzoo has fed the streets with a good few mixtapes and a couple of albums..

‘Spike Lee Was My Hero’ featuring Talib Kweli from his second album got like over a million views on Youtube and propelled Skyz profile to the next. Last year I managed to catch the Skyzoo & Torae show in London Town, as part of their ‘Barrel Bros’ European tour.. The ish was LIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now to present day and the release of his brand new album in June ‘Music For My Friends; it’s a star studded amalgamation of affiliated wordsmiths.. With production from Theolonius Martin, Illmind, Apollo Brown, Antman Wonder to name a few and collabs from Jadakiss, Black Thought (The Roots) and my most recent guest on my Itch Fm show, Soul singer Bilal…

 I strongly recommend a listen and cop a purchase of  Skyzoo ‘Music For My Friends !!!!!

Click the album cover to listen to Skyzoo ‘Music For My Friends..

’

Socials :-

@skyzoo

@thadboogie

@kingtheolonius

@Antmanwonder

@Bilal

@BlackThought

@TheRealKiss

@ApolloBrown

Tammy J found her voice at the tender age of 5 singing to reggae classics with her father. Years Later she joined the church choir at her primary school and was chosen to lead the choir.

Encouraged by her parents Tammy J attended voice workshops and found her talent for song writing. Piano lessons began to pay off as Tammy began to perform her original music in front of music lovers.

At 13 years old, Tammy J found herself in recording studios and receiving regular bookings for showcases, open mic nights, and weddings, talents shows, high school productions, Pantomimes and student events.A booking at Alexandra Palace would finally give Tammy J the exposure she had worked so hard for,

5000 people stared back at the beautiful Tammy J and she was hooked. She wooed the crowd with her silky sound

and WON the national competition !!!!!!

2012 saw Tammy J win the Urban XFactor and then came the release of her 1st official single ‘ELECTRIC’

2013 saw Tammy record with live musicians developing her sound and writing new material.

2015 Fresh from performing at the legendary Jazz Cafe, and working with producer @lego_is_music Tammy J presents her ‘My World’ of EP

In conjunction with her management at BossLadyEnt, many have said “… Tammy J is a star in the making, and her multi range vocal ability really shines thru…”

Click the photo to listen to Tammy J ‘My Story’ EP

Socials @

 Twitter @TammyJSings

 Twitter @lego_is_music lego

 Instagram/tammyjmusic

Young Perion is a rapper born and raised in Hackney, East London. He released his first mixtape entitled Fabulous Potential in 2012,

Growing up in Hackney, he was exposed to street life from a young age and used music to express himself, while surrounded by poverty, Young Perion was forced to think outside the box..and his music proves it!

His latest mixtape The Sauce Is The Limit features collaborations with artists such as Mover, Chubbs and Kemo and features tracks produced by Samara Beats. The Sauce Is The Limit has already proved to be the talk of the streets, from tracks such as ‘Just Like You’ which highlights the reality of growing up in the heart of East London, to tracks such as ”Please Don’t Get Offended’ which pushes the boundaries of hood music.. It has come to the point where things can only get better for this young solo artist.

What inspires you to make music? : my inspiration for music really came from the real hip hop world …and 80 groves..it made me grow to express my own feelings on my own songs..as a youth I never knew how to express how I’m feeling but this world of music helped me understand the real art.. .

What makes you different from every other artist? I’m saucey they aint…

What are your goals in the industry? The aim is to pour sauce all over this game..along with the best music in the whole of the Hip Hop and RnB culture.

Click The image to Listen to Young Perion – The Sauce Is The Limit Mixtape

Socials :-

@Perionz

@thadboogie

REWD ADAMS returns with a brand new mixtape – HUNGER PAINS 2, the fourth chapter in the Rewd Adams story, following a brief hiatus on from the previous chapters in the saga.

It has been a while since REWD touched down on the previous instalment, but there’s no time like the present and that’s exactly where REWD is at his sharpest, and trust me he’s never been more switched on than this latest offering.

HUNGER PAINS 2 still delivers REWD ADAMS’ lighting fast, dextrous wit and charm, but this time he’s hungry for more: REWD is on form, sat down; elbows firmly perched on the table, knife and fork in hand ready to eat what life has to offer. Not only have the ingredients matured but also the level of preparation has gone up a notch too. REWD ADAMS isn’t just solely about spraying bars or dropping a hot sixteen anymore, this guy can cook up songs and serve hooks that would sit on many a platter.

This new project picks up where the previous volume left off: those unbearable, stabbing, migraine inducing pains of hunger and raw talent that drove the first version have now evolved, especially after vital lessons learned on REWD AWAKENING and HOW NOT TO MAKE A LIVING, Rewd Adams is rejuvenated and ready for the world with a fresh outlook

HUNGER PAINS 2 sits ambiguously between hip hop and the ‘grey area’ in a way that’s distinctly unique without sounding tacky, or trying to be placed where most would consider urban as the genre of choice. Beat selection plays a big part too with REWD ADAMS rolling with two top chefs in TEEZA and BEAT BUTCHA guys at the top of their game who have each produced genre defining records with the biggest names in their respective scenes. Further collaborations come in the form of JETSUN, CARDIAK, LA based SINITUS TEMPO, LDN PRODUCTIONS, with the sole collaboration on the tape coming from RINSE MC.

At twelve condense tracks deep ‘HUNGER PAINS 2’ is easier to swallow than most… REWD ADAMS is still warming up but this serving will leave you more than fulfilled.

The album will be delivered in two formats: the first being a mixed version, stitched together by mix tape icon, KISS FM Hip Hop show hosting and DIZZEE RASCAL tour supporting DJ MK.

The second being an official retail LP that will drop on all major digital stores from 23^rd MARCH 2015 via ROADSOUND MUSIC.

Listen to DJ MK Presents Rewd Adams – Hunger Pains 2

Socials :-

@RewdAdams

@DJMK

@TonyBLK

@Thadboogie

I got the shout from my Brooklyn, (NYC) fam last year to promote a young Pittsburgh rapper named Joey Fattz aka Bazooka Joe.

Joey is a passionate rapper who enthuses and embraces the facets of real MC culture; his story telling and pen game are of a higher echelon.

His delivery is both witty and heartfelt, his music brings you back to the roots, back to the struggle, to the grittiness (griminess) in the streets of Pittsburgh.

His lyrics are a true look into his life and the deep, soul clenching struggle from which hip hop was truly born.

Joey Fattz was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA.and has lived in neighborhoods on every side of the city and he has left his mark all over PA.

He has performed from Philly to DC and collaborated with underground cats like  E. Dot, Ricky P and also had the opportunity to work with more mainstream artists and DJ’s such as French Montana, Omilio Sparks and DJ Envy.
Obviously a fan of lyricism and golden era hip hop where mcs were heralded for punchlines. His music is universally appealing to all true hip hop fans.

Almost a year on and having put up a couple of singles and videos; encorporating his crew ‘Grimey Click’

I present to y’all the brand new Joey Fattz Issue 1.5..

The lead single ‘Love Is  For Fools’ is a boom bap soulful heart wrenching track which embodies Joey’s love of Hip Hop, his passion and his story telling. His guest collaborators on the project include Sicky Brett, Tuki Carter, Grimey Click who all wax lyrical and fuse a well produced album.

Standout tracks :-  ‘Reach The Top’ / ‘Get This Together’ / ‘Never Meet Again’

“Love Is For Fools” is the official video  leaked from the highly anticipated second instalment of Fattz’s “Bazooka Joe” series, “Bazooka Joe 1.5″

Click the pic to watch Joey Fattz (Statik Selekt produced) ‘Love Is For Fools’

reverbnation.com/JoeyFattz

facebook.com/pages/Joey-Fattz-Offical-Fan-Page

Socials :-

@thadboogie

@zookaboi

@statikselekt

@tukicarter

@sickybrett