Up In The Ear

Big-E-D ft. Monkstar – Too Much At Stake

Khalid Golding — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:36:36 +0000

Remember Monkstar? 1/3 of the Newham Generals, N.A.S.T.Y (didn’t really understand the acronym but it was at a time when everyone was trying to make the progression from Grimey to Shiny) Crew and overall cold chilling super villain MC who was renown to slinging some of the most frightening lyrics in Grime. When it came to live performances or radio sets Monkstar was always highly anticipated, he’d shut down a session when waxing lyrical with

My patience is running thin, pistol in your mouth low out your chin. That’s what you get when I talk and you grin, it’s like a lyrical sin…

It’s great to see the likes of Big-E-D, formally of the Aftershock Collective, back after so many years in the post Glory era of Grime wilderness. If you’re unfamiliar with Big-E-D, listen to his soundcloud and you’d of probably hear all of the top DJs of the time spinning his morbid ‘skengman’ riddims. Best known for producing Frontline, the Glory era equivalent of Woo Riddim, had every possible top MC do their own version. One of the best versions belonging to Newham Generals.

There’s no release date for this track but through back and forth correspondence, I can only suspect that something longer than three minutes in the works… An LP maybe?

Careless Criminals

Khalid Golding — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:06:06 +0000

Throughout the course of the past seven days I’ve seen several news reports about foiled criminal operations, which have been a result of errors made by the criminals themselves. Seen that I am all for doing things in threes, I’ve put together a list of criminal calamities of the digital age…

1. No Insurance

A gang of six vigilantes, angry at the EDL, decided to attack a rally with homemade bombs, guns and knives. Whether or not they had links to al-Qaeda or were driven by religious ideology doesn’t hide the fact that they got pulled over on the side of the motorway because they didn’t have any insurance on the car they were driving; on of the group gave the insurance company an incorrect registration. Really??? and to top it off these buffoons missed the rally, partially due to a lack of punctuality and the EDL leader Tommy Robinson failing to show up for the event. (Read full story here)

Moral: Proofreading and checking documents prior to submission is mandatory.

2. Facebook and Blackberry Messenger

So if you were in charge of a [not so] elaborate operation involving stealing luxury cars, jewlerry and watches, would you flout the proceeds of such activity on social networks? Would you pose in pictures with cash between slices of bread, sitting on the bonnet of the car with visible license plates, plan the operations via blackberry messenger chat and record videos which can be used as evidence to convict you? (Read full story here)

Moral: Common sense goes a very long way.

3. MSN Messenger

Similar to the case of the brazen thieves, this duo hatched a plan to kidnap and drown a pregnant teenager in a canal because she wouldn’t have an abortion. The elaborate scheme was foiled when a passer by intervened and fished the 6mth pregnant teen to safety. The two conspirators received a total of 32yrs behind bars, leaving behind what could of been a glittering career in Grime. (Read full story here)

Moral: Strap the f*ck up.

Spooky – Moments In Love (G-Mix)

Khalid Golding — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:20:48 +0000

If I could of trusted anyone to do a G-Fix of this timeless composition, it probably would of been Spartan Spooky. Why? Because Spooky has kept the composition as it is, in all of its ethereal glory, and added a subtle trapesque drumpattern and kept it as that. The best thing about it, it’s a free download so get it whilst you can.

Syron – Here (Remixes)

Khalid Golding — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:58:08 +0000

Since hearing this song a few months ago I’ve loved it but none moreso than for the past week because I finally got round to buying it from iTunes. It’s a fantastic song, there’s some great mixes on the single but none better in my ear than the Marcus Jakes and Blasé Boys Club mixes. If I were to choose a favourite out of the two it’ll be the Marcus Jakes mix because the synth stab has had the “Ai yi ai yi yi” dancing around my head all week. The Blasé Boys Club is great for those chilled out ethereal moments.

CAS – Walkin’

Khalid Golding — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:44:55 +0000

This is far from your average ‘Road Rapper‘, I personally think it’ll be disrespectful to put him in the same category as a lot of UK ‘road’ lyricists so I think in my presence it’ll be a great idea to place him in a league of his own. Not just your average talking about violence, partying, drugs and extreme blingery, CAS is introspective, he’s believable, he’s self defacing and in a weird way kinda like a conscious drug dealer rapper from the dark side. CAS to me is the testimony of a drug dealer who’s in too deep in the dark crevices of the the cycle and rather than try to find some form of salvation or a way out, he’s decided to stay there and preach a gospel from the dark side. I’ve liked this guy, or rather been intrigued from hearing Zinc’s remix of Baraka randomly. That was truely a ‘wtf’ moment because I knew my ears picked up on a different kind of charisma. If I were to explain I’d probably take a pinch of my favourite MCs like Jay-Z‘s introspection and remorse, Biggie’s self depreciation, Eminem‘s extremity and Nas‘ acute descriptiveness and sprinkle them upon a UK, London/Essex rapper.

Could CAS be the start of a new era in UK Rap, could he be the first ‘real’ British MC to depict what life is really like inside the mind of these characters who patrol the shadows of inner city British society?

Service Review #1

Khalid Golding — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:33:02 +0000

There’s nothing more annoying than poor customer service. I know sometimes you can’t be fucked to crack a smile sometimes but please, when I come to your shop to purchase something, act like you’re fucking interested or better yet act like you know what you’re talking about. I’m not sure if it’s a growing trend but there’s a string of shops along Woolwich Road with what could be the shittest customer service. It started with Currys, then Harvey’s Furniture and finally Halfords. Monday morning or not, slow fucking day or not, act like you’re interested. There were two members of staff smoking outside Harvey’s when I walked in, virtually no staff in the store. This lady and gent did not acknowledge me and when I was leaving they were walking in, around seven minutes later, and whilst the gent gave a half-hearted greeting, the lady had a look of disgust on her face. With poor customer service like this, it’s no wonder why a lot of high street stores are closing down or going into administration, people would rather shop online rather than beg an employee to sell something to them or ask them questions.

Halfords is a different ballgame all together. There is never any staff available in their store, the aisles are too high to peep over and see anyone and then you have to walk to the till point from the back of the store to find someone. Once there I asked if here was anyone to talk to and the lady abruptly replied no, bearing in mind she was having a conversation with some guy at the till for the past ten minutes, prior to me walking in too. The guy interjected with, “Someone will be available in ten minutes if you wait“. So you’re telling me that you’re having a social with the one person who isn’t doing shit but sitting on her arse at the till and then you’re telling me to wait? That’s kinda fucked up and a big reason why I’ll take my business to an independent mechanic to advise me about car stereos. Fair enough the price may not be lower but at least you get treated with respect.

I believe that poor customer service is something Halfords seem to specialise in because upon visiting a store on Old Kent Road, I wasn’t asked for my name or addressed a sir but the sales adviser/stereo fitter addressed me as ‘Fam‘ and ‘Brudda‘, which is street speak for ‘Friend’ and ‘Brother’. The not so funny thing is that when he’s talking to someone who isn’t black he probably uses ‘mate’ and ‘sir’ but because I’m black, he must think it’s acceptable to address me as ‘fam’ and ‘brudda‘. That’s the most fucked up thing, the disrespect and total disregard to the sales assistant/customer relationship.

To all of the above retailers, retrain your staff in respect and decency in regards to dealing with the general public. As a prospective customer, whether or not I intend to spend £15.00 or £1,500.00, respect and relevant product knowledge is all I ask for. I shall be spreading word of my shitty experiences to everyone and I believe that its testament that independent stores provide a much more interpersonal and tailored experience as opposed to chain stores who ignore you, and fail to acknowledge you even if they are with customers.

My MacBook Is Comatose

Khalid Golding — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:01:08 +0000

In 2013 a dog is no longer a mans best friend, never a friend of mine to begin without hey, a computer/ smartphone/ tablet have taken pride of place in the pocket and bag of today’s technological gent. These devices allow us to remember the anniversaries of our relationships, birthdays of friends and relatives, dates at the dentist and most importantly the date and time of your Genius Bar appointment to somehow try to get your computer repaired after not powering on for over a fortnight. Anyone who knows me knows just how important my MacBook is to me and how much of an integral part part it plays in my everyday activity. I’m pretty much devastated as I’ve tried changing the battery and it still doesn’t power on, leaving me with only one conclusion…. Da dun daaaaaaah! I may have to pay for some pretty expensive components to be replaced. My battery did tell me that it needed to be replaced soon for around about a year so could the dying battery’s illness spread to all the other components, especially the power? Hmmm I wonder what would Clay Davis say…

I know everyone does these ‘#prayforblahblah‘ so could we get ‘prayforkhalidsmacbook‘ trending please. It’s not too much to ask considering that some of you tweet and post more than you actually speak to other human beings. It’s not yet another frivolous news story being pushed by a celeb tweet that gets constant retweets, or something you share for the sake of it, this is the tool I use to ‘enrich lives‘. Whether I’m sharing a self indulgent article about how much I hate standing next to morbidly obese people because they smell weird or hate riding the bus in rush hour [or better yet all the time] because there’s always a mother who can’t control the screaming demon in the pram.

#prayforKhalidsmacbook

Trade Mark Couple – Monrovia

Khalid Golding — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:29:28 +0000

Trade Mark Couple, or Trademark as they are otherwise known, are comprised of 17 year old producer/beatmaker Tom Hughes and 16 year old singer/songwriter Mali Mann. They describe their sound as being indie/neo soul.

Tom has also put in work outside of TM as apart of The Ghost Factory and producing psychedelic trapstrumentals for me to zone out to. Seems like this is someone I’ll be keeping an eye on, Long Beach is definitely bubbling with something special…

Etta Bond – Inside My Head

Khalid Golding — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:39:01 +0000

This track is tooooo ill, kinda reminds me of Lily Allen’s mid noughties track Cheryl Tweedy, the theme is great and the delivery is even greater. It seems that Etta Bond has a knack for riding [sound] waves to perfection and delivering dialogue from her own personal experiences. I can’t help but hear the Skepta-ish Grime flow either, I can only look forward to what’s about to drop next…

Kreayshawn – Blase Blase

Khalid Golding — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:55:49 +0000

I can’t lie, when I heard Gucci Gucci for the first time I actually loved it. I heard a few more tracks and wondered if there’d ever be another banger quite as charismatic as Gucci Gucci… Alas, scrolling through Facebook, as you do, I stumbled upon Blase Blase. The production, the flow and the visuals are a massive step up from I’m used to seeing from the ‘bizarrely creative Kreayshawn. I also love that whilst everyone else has tried to jump on some corny electro dub poppery, Kreayshawn has kinda swerved over to some booty shaking [I use this phrase a lot I know] kinda club music. It’s a nod to San Francisco‘s Bay area in the late ’80s to early ’90s, not only is it an innovative move but one that further cements Baby Kreay as a charismatic trendsetter. Kinda reminds me of when Missy tried to revive the breakbeat inspired sound of the late ’70s early ’80s. I feel this is gonna be a hit, in fact I’m positive that this is the future of the whole ‘bass’ genre, or perhaps the next cycle. Watch this space…