International Hip Hop 315 Items

Kuniko is releasing her first 12"ep, expressing her own identity. The unique and new style, centered around the theme of "inheritance and creation," is being sent out to the world. During childhood, Kuniko sang at local festivals, learned piano and electone, and grew up surrounded by music. In 2009, she had a groundbreaking encounter with the influential figure Mala, a pioneer in the UK bass culture and dubstep scene. She also met DJ mentor Yama aka Sahib. Inspired by these experiences, she started her career as a DJ in Tokyo, expressing herself through music. In 2013, she relocated to her roots in Okinawa, where she established her base. There, she learned the traditional Okinawan art of singing and playing the sanshin from her mentor, Misako Ohshiro.

Mvten, the frontman of Oneness, a crew that has gained support from core hip-hop fans in Japan, and Boogie Mason, a leading Japanese beat maker from Shizuoka, have collaborated on the long-awaited 7inch release of a new song!! From the collaboration works of the two artists based in Tokyo and Shizuoka, respectively, the new song "Feel", which was released digitally in 2023 and received high acclaim, and their signature song "True School" have been newly remixed by Boogie Mason himself (only on 7inch) for a physical release on 7inch for club use! Boogie Mason, who has experienced worldwide releases on the US label "No Sabes", has an outstanding sense of melody.

B.O.L.T. Warhead was one of the pioneers in the Norwegian hip hop scene. They grew out of the A-Team crew, and took their music in a rougher and more militant direction. The peace signs and positivity of the A-Team was replaced by black military pants and doomsday poetry. The Re-Enforcement was the only album released by B.O.L.T. Warhead, and it is considered a classic in britcore circles nevertheless, with the CD and the tape going for more than 100 EUR. Now it is available on vinyl for the first time.

“Classe Operaia” is the 2nd volume of “Moderna Sonorizzazioni”, a series of instrumental hip hop inspired to library music. The italian beat-genius JayBee Vibes tells the story of his half-tunisian half-sicilian family emigrated to Milan. 15 hip hop beats with evocative sample-chops and dope drums

Rapper Isao Bitoh dazzles with his flow. The legendary "Ashita no Joe Rap" was miraculously cut as a 7-inch single. Minimal loop of "Ashita no Joe" intro, Schoolly D - P.S.K's rabid drums, and the small scratch and so much perfection of the track.

A remix of the popular song "Guilty Luv" by rare lyricist "bron-k" on the mellow side, the remix by "Kenichiro Nishihara" was a bigger hit than the original. This 7inch, which has been difficult to find for a long time, has been re-released in a new guise, coupled with the original. The melancholic and lyrical piano melody is matched beautifully with the heart-wrenching and melancholic vocals. In addition to a remix by Kenichiro Nishihara, the flip side features the original by Loptimist. It will be re-released as a 7-inch single with completely new spec.

A classic in Japanese hip-hop history, released in 2001, is now available on analogue for the first time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its debut!

The first major full-length album from Kumamoto, Kyushu's land of fire, which suddenly swept the scene and made a name for itself in the national arena, is now available on 2LP!

The first major full-length album "upper Jam" was released in 2001 by the core of the Japanese hip-hop world, Gakki Ranger, and received high acclaim from all quarters. The album features 21 thrilling tracks, with the 2 MCs Potemkin & Yoshi using the skills they have cultivated in their live shows to deliver unpredictable lyrical raps, and GP & DJ High Switch a.k.a. HIRO's ear-piercing, thick-boned backing tracks. Guest artists include Ken-1-raw from Volcano Posse, M.O.S.A.D. from Nagoya, Rappagaria, Fukuoka Yutaka from Pink, RYO the Skywalker from the reggae world and many more. It is a timeless classic with an uplifting feel brought about by the combination of unexpected and irregular rapping and the exquisite pauses that are meticulously orchestrated!

After two EPs with his punk-jazz duo La Récré, a recent solo album on Born Bad Records and two soundtracks for Monia Chokri films "Babysitter" and "Simple Comme Sylvain", Forever Pavot is everywhere yet never where you expect him to be. He now returns to BMM with a new rap album titled "Forever XP". On the other side of the globe, LA-based rapper and street activist XP The Marxman received a beat with a nice sample from one of his producers. XP traced the sample back to Forever Pavot, and decided to reach out to him to collaborate. That's how the atypical Forever XP album was born. Pavot's first time working with a rapper was also XP's first time working with a composer, yet they managed to blend both their universes in such a flawless way that it's like they were meant to create music together.

David Kiledjian is the creator behind a number of projects (Fowatile, Hila, the successful Dowdelin...), producer of albums by Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan and Malian band BKO,and collaborator with Talib Kweli, Piers Faccini, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Vaudou Game…Lyon-based musician and producer, David Kiledjian is now releasing « The Otium Mixtape », his first opus under his own name. Built around the idea of active idleness cherished by the citizens of ancient Rome, these 10 tracks build bridges between languages and folklore from the 4 corners of the world, jazz, hip-hop and electronic avant-garde.

Standing tall against his best work, the record is a potent reminder of how Dizzee’s legendary status came to be, capturing him in incendiary form as he flows effortlessly through a collection of distinctly UK genres with unrivalled ease.

Centred by swaggering flows and formidable wordplay, Dizzee’s latest body of work is yet another victory lap on what is one of the defining rap music legacies, and as the bars continue to rain down, just remember - it’s nothing personal.

Sly, Sly Johnson, Sly The Mic Buddah : since the Saïan Supa Crew up until his solo career, the human beat machine keeps on increasing his numerous identities.

From Hip Hop to Soul, then from Soul to Beatmaking: from flow to singing, then from singing to production, Sly Johnson never really changed universe. He has just changed the direction of his musical compass in order to navigate with more flow.

Today, it’s immersed in the mechanics with processors and printed circuits that we find him, under the alias of TAGi, producer-beatmaker who, for the occasion, has joined the services of Steven Beatberg. It’s together, in artistic autarchy with the only presence of softwares, samplers and sequencers, that they have built their pieces in the light of their computer screens, rhythmizing the days by inserting snares or grindings of plugs taken from their sound database.

If records are, most of the time, Hip Hop’s nourishing materials, TAGi et Steven have however not used any samples. Their favourite recordings were not materials to exploit, but an aesthetic from which to inspire, compose, and search atmospheres and melodies, search his arrangements. After three EP dominated by instrumentals, the duo finally chose to realise their dream: to craft a multi-voice album where customized production for each guest would guide the creative process. To put themselves at the exclusive service of artists they particularly love, all different but connected by an uncompromising resistance to the commercial wind blowing on Hip Hop. For each one of them, they have built a title, keeping in mind the precise idea to put to light he or her that will vocally dress the bars.

Rapper Big Pooh, the former member of the Little Brother group (With Phonte & 9th Wonder), the contemporary soul of Lisa Spada, but also the rapist #madeinfrance Pumpkin (worthy descendant of MC Solaar, Fabe …), multi-faceted Georgia Anne Muldrow, the MC Finale, the new rising wave of artists of the Hip-Hop scene in Detroit. Tiemoko from Paris, Saga an MC who follows the pure tradition of the New York Hip-Hop, the very smooth-jazzy Elodie Rama and Dilouya, the producer of the previous record of Sly (The Mic Buddah), are of this casting where men and women share the roles and where TAGi, as soon as the mic presents itself to him, becomes again Sly Johnson for some refrains, choruses or solo rereading of the sublime “Retrograde” of James Blake.

Guided by Hip Hop since the 90’s until today, worked in great detail, YOUARESURROUNDED highlights vintage keyboards on granular rhythms, injecting a lascivious Soul, P-funk, electro futuristic or melancholic in black and white touches on 13 tracks that are as atmospheric as they are emotional.

The substance, the essence, the soul of the Hip-Hop.

Close to NM.