Boozoo Bajou
Monday, July 18th, 2005 by Paul Irishcalypso dancehall // dub // bossa
To get an idea, imagine Basement Jaxx in a damp island jungle instead of a nightclub. With Boozoo, the beats are wet, the grooves are deep and the hooks are funky-ass funky – Mike Reinboth of Compost Records aptly called them, “NuDubReggae-meets-Mambo-Bossa”. These German blokes have been pumping out LPs and remixes for some time, but have now found their groove with their new record Dust My Broom on K7. “Killer” is the body-moving, hip-shaking stunner on the disc – dancehall vocals on top of a wide tropical bass. “Take It Slow” unfolds a smooth summer reggae ballad of a more intimate feel.One to move your hips. And one to move your lips.
Andrea Mangia falls somewhere between a blissful float down a sunset river and snow falling on industrial estates, whatever that means. And yes, he sounds like a breed of Scott Herren (Prefuse 73) and Four Tet, but I mean, so what? I like Four Tet, and frankly the last album wasn’t that great – so if there are competent imitators I’m happy to oblige. Especially with tracks like ‘Hip Hop Cocotte’ that swirls slowly into a great, sticky mass of guitar strings and electronic hisses; or ‘The Dixie Saga’ which has an eerie darkness to its clicks and twangs.
Common has been the influential uncle of the hip hop scene. But even though he’s got some of the most sophisticated lyrical technique, his sales haven’t come close to your typical hip hop juggernauts. Jay-Z even addressed this disparity between substance and sales, rapping in “Moment of Clarity”: Truthfully, I wanna rhyme like Common Sense/But I did five mil/I ain’t been rhyming like Common since. But later this month, Common releases 
In ’98, I spent the summer on a ladder scraping dry blue paint off an ugly house. Albeit a shitty job, I had a 2X CD-R drive at home that birthed a hiphop mix including The Herbaliser’s “The Blend” featuring vocalist What What. One of my co-scrapers (from ghetto Hartford) dug the track so much that he replaced his prized Nas CD with the Herbaliser. I never saw that CD again. Now, the hip-hop powerduo is releasing their latest album, Take London, on the premire British beats label 
Labeling this track “underground hiphop” or “real hiphop”, although completely appropriate, would be misrepresentative in this case. “Count Your Blesings” is radio-friendly. It’s production’s polished. Its sound’s got bounce. And it doesn’t feel like most other on/under the radar hiphop because.. well, it’s pop hiphop. Just a warning though, Emanon is a duo: MC 
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I love my public library. I used to go weekly to borrow 18 CDs of random stuff I’d never heard. Sometime in 2000, I picked up a 
Over the past decade, these Philly hipsters have made a solid name for themselves. They put together some home-cooked sloppy blues sound with hip-hop flavor and soulful harmonica solos and basslines. They also give a chill good-crowd kind of show, check their 
This man is nothing new to you, and rightfully so. He’s musician of absolute talent, a dj doing justice for the two letters in front of his name. Ever since his debut Entroducing, he’s blown his listeners’ minds. He rocks out on some wild beats ‘n vinyl, here kicking the shit hott with lyricist Roots Manuva. While you’re dropping this song, be sure to drop by John Book’s ultimate 
The title “No Escapin’ This” is an apt one; because you really can’t avoid the hotness of this track. Heavy hittin bass slams you on a syncopated beat and a backup black chorus robs you of your own your complementary contribution; they’ve got this song pinned down. The Beatnuts have a production style so polished and perfect, meanwhile their beats sound natural, earthy and justly flavored. They hit the balance right.