a year in the life of oscar the slouch: review

Ramson Badbonez, arguably the UK's most naturally gifted MC. A man whose utilisation of some of Hip Hops most well known Golden Age instrumentals (The London Realness, 3 Endings) is nothing short of genius. After his catalogue of mixtapes and assorted releases grew exponentially, his debut album (released via Boot Records) Bad Influence, took its bow. Yet as good as most of the album was, to me Ramson suffered from what I call, the Can-I-Bus effect. A plethora of superbly written rhymes were heard from start to finish, yet there was a distinct lack of structure. Having gonna back to the drawing board, Mr. Badbonez is back with his first release through High Focus Records, A Year In The Life of Oscar The Slouch.

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another cure

Out tomorrow!

Pre order HERE, HERE or HERE

a cure for your ailing bones

One of a favourite MCs is back on the prowl. Ramson Badbonez is now rolling with High Focus (i missed that news) and his first single from his new album 'A Year In The Life Of Oscar The Slouch'. If I'm Judging on this track alone, Ramson is clearly a lot more focused on the delivery of a song as oppose to showing his skills. If he carries that through to his album then we are in for a treat. His Boot records album was somewhat eclipsed by his mixtapes. Hopefully this is about to change. Roll on 09/12/2013.

p.s. the video is genius!!!

….and booted again

Ramson Badbonez, Jehst, Kahmere, Pheonix Da Icefire! All of these cats latest projects are on regular rotation on my (absolutely awesome) Galaxy Note 2. My pre order is in. Do the same folks its niceness. Peep the preview.

dat ting is duuuuutty bruv

Yeah yeah i know i’m late on this one but you know what they say. Better….. Enjoy!

Ramson Badbonez – Dutty MC (184 Remix)

eye know

A little Ramson freeness to get you in the zone for his soon to be unleashed album. 27th August is the day of reckoning. Enjoy!

Ramson Badbonez – They Will Never Know (single)

Ramson Badbonez - Bad Influence

Ramson Badbonez is always pleasingly consistent, with his dark wordplay, on point flows and crisp imagery.Bad Influence continues to fullfil the appetite. With Ramson's rap diversity, rocking all kinds of beats and flows with enough lyrical content to keep even the most stringent street grammar addict tuned in. The album provides us with a delicious audible package of heavy drum breaks, stomping electro pulses, middle eastern violins, melodic soulful sweeps and eerie horror scores and as sure to be certified with anything Badbonez does, the production backdrops provide plenty of neck snap material.The album will be out on the 27th of August on Boot Records.

The album features Mystro, Brad Strut, Remus, Balance, Fae Simon. 

Beats are provided by Boot, Harry Love, Farma G, Jetsun, Row.D Beats, 184, Wizard and DJ Insite. 
more after the break....

listen up!

I’ve said it before, Ramson seems to be able to turn his skills to anything… so far. I just hope that his debut doesn’t suffer from Canibus syndrome (see Can-I-Bus). We shall see.

flexibility

Now this is how you introduce yourself to the world. Acquire the services of some steller beatsmiths and make your guestlist an awesome one. Chemo, Ramson Badbonez, Kelakovski, Iron Braydz, Beat Butcha and a few more all contribute a beat or some bars to this EP. Enjoy!

Mr Flex – Nothing To Prove EP

there’s always time for badbonez

I’ve always got time for some Ramson Badbonez. His latest offering, Buried Bonez, is a sum of a generous helping of his collabos plus a few exclusives to boot.

Ramson Badbones – Buried Bonez

There’s some more Ramson inspired freeness after the break. Enjoy….

annual #3

Whoa… it’s that time already!?!?! It’s been a great year this year. But then again I say that every year. Some seriously top notch stuff but the one thing I noticed is the marked increase in collaborative projects. Be it MC.Producer, MC/MC or even Producer/Producer lot of  our best and brightest got together for full length collabos. And yes, a few of those made my favourites list. Lets get down to business! And remember, this is not one of those ‘semi-official’ best of lists (i’ll leave those to the more established heads. These are MY FAVOURITE albums from the past 12 months. Like / don’t like, lemme know.

 

 Celph Titled & Buckwild: Nineteen Ninety Now

My favourite album of 2010! superb from start to finish, Celph is made for these beats. I can only assume that sample issues prevented these beats from being used by other MC’s a lot earlier as I can’t believe they were passed over by anyone. I just hope that there is more in the pipeline from these 2.

 

Tiron: MSTRD

The first of my ‘Free’ favourites. Tiron went the Illmatic route and kept things short and sweet. Not a skippable track to be found. and that DJ Dahi should be an awful lot busier.

 

Lewis Parker & John Robinson: International Summers 

Lewis Parker, arguably the UK’s finest recent Hip Hop export. Man with the golden touch is right. Partnered this go round by the often overlooked John Robinson over probably his finest collection of neck snappers to date.

Kev Turner: Soul City Music (beats by Detayl) 

I’ve always been an East Coast head. NAs, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang etc. I have always leaned to the right when it came to Hip Hop politics anyway. Kev Turner & Detayl’s collabo invokes thosefeelings in me whenever i listen to it… and I listen to it a lot.

Ty: Special Kind Of Fool

My 2nd favourite release this year. Everytimehe puts something out it makes my list (Closer did it 2 years ago). There is an understated quirkiness about Ty’s sound. Always bearing a message, Ty hasmastered the art of edutainment. Positive messages wrapped up in awesome beat choices and superb wordplay.

 

Von Pea: So Motivational & Peas Gotta Have It

To be honest I love all things Tanya Morgan/Von Pea certified. Both Of these are on regular rotation on my Blackberry/Ipod and will be for some time to come.

 

J. Cole: Friday Night Lights

I’m not afraid to say that I was very late on this guy. The first time I really caught him was when I had Reflection Eternals Just Begun on constant repeat. And being honest, I only decided to grab this when I read that Hov had signed him (how shallow am I). No more will I ignore the talents on display on Friday Night Lights.

 

Ramson Badbonez:  The Official Volume 2

& Give Badbonez A Break 

I just can’t get over how good Ramson’s flow is. It could easily have faded after he initially blew up but he has proved that he is here for the long haul. So while we wait for his 1st official album this is more than enough to tide me over for now. Having more original beats on here than on volume 1 is an added extra. With Give Ramson A Break IQ & Gone have provided the original ‘Breaks’ to some of Hip Hops finest music for a backdrop. The first & last tracks are two of my favs of the lat few months (yes I am a man of simple pleasures).

 Kashmere: Galaktus – Power Cosmic

I have always considered Kashmere’s interstellar flows to be the stuff of UK Hip Hop legend. I have also considered the beat making talents of Zygote (another album please) and Jazz T to be in that same bracket. And then they got together for Power Cosmic. Otherworldly organized chaos never sounded so good.

 

 Clear Soul Forces: Departure EP

Another of my favourite freeness. I’d never heard anyhting of these guys at all before I grabbed this EP. If you are in that category now I strongly suggest you do as I did, you won’t be disappointed.

 

Hocus Pocus: 16 Pieces

I think i understand about 3 percent of what these guys are actually saying on their songs (unless an english speaking collaborator is present on the track). But we all know a nice flow when we hear it and besides, everything Hocus Pocus put out is among the finest examples of Jazz Hop of this Hip Hop generation.

 

 Prose: Force OF Habit

Put simply, Prose do Boom Bap, and they do it very well indeed. Nuff said i’d say

 

 JazzyFact: Lifes Like

 Wow! what an album! Like Hocus Pocus I don’t understand a lot of what these guys are saying but like the aforementioned 16 Pieces, Lifes Like is also a superb example of Jazz Hop.

David Banner & 9th Wonder: Death Of A Pop Star

Just when it seemed that 9ths best work was going to be exclusively heard on mixtapes. Along comes the much promo’d Death Of A Pop Star. A few heads compared Banners flow to his Crooked Letterz days. So I revisited old pastures & I can see what they mean. 9th Wonder saved his best for last in my opinion.

 

Life: Life Beyond Rap

Whether going solo or as part of the Phi-Life collective, Life MC hasn’t missed a socio-political beat. That plus his undeniable chemistry with one of the UK’s finest, DJ Nappa, makes Life Beyond Rap arguably UK Hip Hops finest release this year.

 The Roots: How I Got Over

And so I saved my (3rd) favourite release of 2010 til last. In my view, How I Got Over sees the roots return to the heady heights of Things Fall Apart. Yes I know Rising down is also an awesome album but this just trumps it for me. It would’ve been my obvious choice for favourite if Celph & Buck hadn’t created awesomeness personified!

My Honourable mentions:

Majestik Legend – The Great Escape

Ghostface Killah – Apollo Kids

Black Milk – Album  Of The Year

Kanye West – My Dark Twisted Fantasy

Skyzoo & Illmind – Live From The Tape Deck

and thats a wrap

see you next year…. p e a c e

my IQ’s Gone up

Damn!!! Even when Ramson isn’t the developer in chief (this time he is part of a trio) of a project he’s still killin’ em. DJ Gone & DJ IQ have looped some very recognisable sample loops for Ramson (and friends) to tear up. Su-Bloody-Perb.

he’s a baaaad boooy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every time I discover something I haven’t heard before from Ramson I cant Stop Eulogising about it. This time it is these three tasty morsels I found while scouring the youtube heavens. The man spits pure venom and pretty much owns every track he cameos on. His 1st 2 mixtapes are absolute class and an album will surely follow the same path. peep the evidence here and via previous posts.

spaaaaaace ghooooost

Frazier Ali EP available on iTunes now