Watch 'em swing, watch 'em swing...

I woke up this morning thinking about E-40. It's not often I rise with thoughts of the Ambassador of the Bay, but today my first concious thought was: why hasn't hyphy kicked off in the UK? With genres like dubstep/dnb/grime being so prevalent on UK airwaves and dancefloors, isn't it strange that the hard-hitting, bass-heavy, electronic-fused sounds of crunk and hyphy aren't understood here? Across the Atlantic, support reaches all the way to the Oscars. On this end, Londoners are always asking me who Lil' Jon is (i.e. asking me mid-crumpet "Pardon me love, but pray tell - who is this Lil Jon bloke you always go on about?"). And when Shadow came through town a couple weeks ago, everyone and their media dog was panting about their hate (read: misjudgement) of 'The Outsider.' I mean, how could you watch this video and NOT want to dedicate your life/career to stunna shades and shakin' dreadlocks?



Great retaliatory shout from Shadow: “At that point in my career, I was looking to do something different and didn’t really care what people thought, so I began to reach out to the people involved, trying to make something happen. As far as I’m concerned this movement comes in two halves: before 'Tell Me When To Go' and after. That’s why I was so glad to make my mark before it really crossed over. I remember last year driving through Oakland, I’d just released 'Three Freaks' and heard a bunch of kids coming out of school singing it. That was fantastic, because, when you think about it, who would you rather make hip-hop for — men in their thirties or the kids who are really part of it?”

Whenever I ask UK-based people about their lack of love for regional stateside hip hop, I tend to get some sort of lackluster response along the lines of "In the UK, we support UK music." Hmm. I've got reservations about UK hip hop personally. Icey so coldly (and beautifully) once put it: UK hip hop is a fucking parasite. I'd say it's more like US hip hop's little brother, an underdeveloped carbon copy that hasn't quite figured out its place in the real world yet. I want to patronizingly pinch its cheeks and ruffle its hair like, "aww, look - it thinks it's a veritable genre, how sweet." But that's a story for another day. Today is payday, after all - as such, I'll leave you with this banger...

Lil' Jon feat Three 6 Mafia - Act A Fool