Pete Philly & Perquisite

now playing: Pete Philly & Perquisite - High Tide

Hailing from Amsterdam, Netherlands Peter Monzon aka Pete Philly and Pieter Perquin aka Perquisite are two of the freshest European hip-hop artists, if you ask me. The collaboration started in 2003, although they both already had musical careers before that. Pete Philly & Perquisite's first release was the Mindstate EP in January 2004 and it got such a positive response that they decided to release a full 17-track Mindstate album in March 2005. Each track represents a different mind state both lyrically and musically.

Mindstate EP cover

Download Mindstate

Among others, Talib Kweli, who stated that "musically these guys are light-years ahead of the game", was featured on the album. They toured around the world and received multiple awards and, eventually, the Mindstate was released also in Japan and the US. In January 2007, as the touring was over, they released a remixed version of the Mindstate called Remindstate and later in the same year their second album Mystery Repeats came out in the Netherlands. Belgium, rest of Europe and Japan followed in 2008.

Mystery Repeats cover

Buy Mystery Repeats

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Like the first album, Mystery Repeats was critically acclaimed and the public loved it, too. Its first single Time Flies was a success receiving radio and airplay especially in their own country.

Intensive touring in Japan, Germany and many well-known festivals in Europe, including Sziget, HipHop Open and Summerjam, brought them a growing fanbase and, again, many awards. The third single off Mystery Repeats got into the Dutch Top 40 list and is their most successful track.

Next, both got to their own projects as Perquisite was asked to compose the entire score for a Dutch movie and his official debut Across was released in 2010. Pete Philly has also started to work with his solo material. In 2010, he released a new free track every week for 14 weeks. These Open Loops are available on his website for free and his first full release, One, is coming up.

In 2009, the duo officially ended their common career with a massive live tour. I'm sure both will keep on doing what they do best and please us listeners with new solo material. At least Perquisite has been busy with producing and composing music for many projects. As we wait, I suggest you to get your hands on the albums mentioned above because no one should sleep on this good music.

Shad

now playing: Shad - Wild

Shadrach Kabango, aka Shad is a Canadian hip-hop artist. Born in Kenya 1982, raised up in London, Ontario, Shad released his self-made debut When This Is Over in 2005. Before that he had participated 91.5 FM’s (London, ON) annual Rhythm of the Future unsigned talent competition and, winning the first prize, he put the $17,500 on recording the album while continuing his studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.

When This Is Over album cover

When This Is Over was critically acclaimed and got respect especially for the lyrics. Some of the tracks are about the typical but most are not. For example, he uses his mother Bernadette Kabango's poetry when rapping about the Rwandan genocide in I'll Never Understand. After the release, he sold out shows around Canada and got to warm up superstars like Common and Lupe Fiasco.

In 2007, he was signed by Black Box Recordings and he released his second album The Old Prince. The album was an immediate success. It has been referred to as one of the strongest Canadian hip-hop albums ever (Vish Khanna, Exclaim! Magazine), it received a Juno award in 2008 for Rap Recording of the Year, was nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize and it was nominated for two MuchMusic Video Awards.

Shad's third album, TSOL, was released in 2010 and it, too, received the Polaris Music Prize and the Juno award for Rap Recording of the Year.

The Old Prince album cover

TSOL album cover

With these three albums Shad has taken a well deserved place in the top rank. His flow is getting better with every word, although it was pretty ridiculous to begin with. The beats, oh lord the beats, are sick, his lyrics are smarter, more meaningful and layered than you could at first imagine. It feels like he had been on the game for years and years, even though the truth is quite the opposite. Like many other bloggers, I too think that When This Is Over is one of the best debut albums and things get only better after that.

To listen to Shad's music before buying the albums (oh yes, I know you will buy them, unless you're deaf) you can go to his website. He has a list of his official music videos on youtube and all the necessary links to find where you can purchase his auditory gold.

B-Ju

now playing: B-JU - Babbel Net (Original)

I don't think I've recommended any house yet even though house music is the love of my life. Well yes, the blog is called hiphop something but hey, good music is always good music and if you aren't into house, just read a little further.

So. B-Ju. An award winning German producer who makes both house/electronic and hiphop/turntablism beats. A very versatile and talented guy, indeed. Dog Day EP is his debut album that was released on Error Broadcast Collective in April 2010. There was a very limited (100 copies) vinyl edition of the EP that had features of 1000names and Herrmutt Lobby and that, not surprisingly, sold out quickly. But, luckily, they went digital, too.



Over here we have B-Ju's podcast, sorry Cloudcast I was supposed to say. And here is his Soundcloud.

Can't wait to hear more from this guy.