Heroes Of UK Hip Hop

“Street rap is the still the real deal
Hardcore 1, Commercial Nil.
The hardcore wins again”

The above lines from “Hardcore Wins Again” by GMP pretty much sum up golden era UK hip hop for me. It was hardcore - raw, rough, rugged, noisy, pure, intense and there was little concern by the artists for commercial acceptance and favour. Sure there were some artists from the UK making hip hop aimed at the charts at the time but the majority of rappers from the UK just made the music they loved with no conforming to what was happening on the pop charts and no trying to copy any watered down styles that were coming from the USA. It was truly straight from the heart British hip hop where the focus was on skills and making hard beats with aggressive, knowledgeable, talented MC’s and DJ’s getting busy on the wheels. Commercial hip hop never stood a chance against it as the movement against all things commercial was strong (although this changed over time as the mainstream took over). This is basically the school of thought behind GMP’s one and only release, the self titled GMP “Ganxta Mai-Dae Productions” EP.

Track one is the brilliant aforementioned “Hardcore Wins Again”. Musically it’s a raw affair. It has a simple yet effective head nodder of a mid tempo beat with an undertone of a constant piano driven rhythm, more prominent being Public Enemy siren type noises sitting imposingly over the beat. The track features two dope rough and similar sounding MC’s who seem to go under the blanket name “Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. They have a verse each where they each take a turn at verbally tearing commercial hip hop and sellouts to shreds. Lines such as “making a track like Monie in the Middle, f*** that s**t it’s commercial dribble” and “once upon a time British rap started to climb but now everybody wanna sound like Busta Rhymes” leave the listener in no doubt as to where these guys are coming from. In fact almost every line in this song is memorable and worth quoting. All sonic admiration of this track aside, I personally worship what this track stands for and to me it epitomises what hardcore rap is all about and what I have stood for as a fan of hardcore hip hop above all other musical styles for many years.

The quality does not drop off in the slightest with “Give Em Some Airplay”. This track comes rougher than the opener with a busy hard hitting beat that seems to be attacking the speakers like bullets are being fired at them – it’s glorious - with some screeching type sounds added to it for extra sonic noise effect. It features more MC’s than the first track (i'm guessing it's the whole of the GMP crew) and most significantly welcomes the incredible female MC of the group Deena Dee to grab the mic (who I will elaborate on shortly). The wasabi spicing up this raw sushi of a track though is that the rhymes are all delivered with that Beastie Boys “Check the Mic” rapping “over the phone” slightly distorted style which I absolutely love every time I hear it. The message on this track is quite clear, exactly as the title suggests, with the crew expressing their gripes of not having their brand of hip hop heard on the airwaves and it comes as no surprise to me really that 15 years later there’s still no underground hip hop being played on the radio. As Deena so perfectly states - “do we have to water down just to get some airplay ? Well me, Deena Dee says no way. Sorry to diss but some are just asslickers, they lick the asses of the major’s artists. Pop rap equals crap, money rules the fools so now I gotta fight back.” Says it all really.

The B-Side of the EP starts off with the wonderful “The Arrival”. Leaning more towards the funkier side of things this song has a few aspects to it that combine to make a dope package. For a start the rapping (performed by Timebomb) has a double or triple tracked effect to it which is really fantastic and Timebomb’s fast tempo rhyming adds to that. Secondly there’s that very familiar clown music from Smokey Robinson’s “Tears of a Clown” that basically acts as the chorus for the track and is so, so, so catchy and fits perfectly in here. There’s quite a bit going on with the beat as well with a pacey drum track, subliminal ghostly howling in parts and a tingling bell keeping rhythm throughout. There’s even a bit of DJ work here (which is strangely a rarity on this EP). I really dig this song.

Okay so now we get “Down to Business” with Deena Dee on the solo tip. Honestly in all my time listening to hip hop I could count the number of female MC’s I’ve liked on one hand and even then I can’t remember the last time I played a female rapper’s album. They either try too hard to sound like males or they go the “sex sells” cheap slut route or are just plain wack and weird (anyone remember Jay Z’s girl Amil ?). That’s what makes Deena Dee stand out to me – she’s raw and hardcore on the mic but still sounds like a normal woman and isn’t talking about how many men wanna get into her pants. Above all that she has SKILLS. Okay enough qualifying statements of admiration, let’s get to the track. It starts off with a “1,2,3” sampled from Flavour Flav and significantly so as the track features the trademark PE whistles ripped straight from the Nation of Millions album, which I’m not mad at because it suits the track. The rest of the makeup of the track consists of a middle of the road sorta beat with a strong funky bassline with subtle “woos” and various squealy sounds throughout. Deena’s skills totally carry this song though and make it what it is ie. a brilliant solo showcase of her braggadocious skills. A nice little novelty occurs towards the end of the track too where she starts giggling at the end of her shoutouts to various people. She’s simply a real woman on the mic with real talent. My favourite female MC ever, yes I’m in love.

The dope and rather hilarious “Simpleton” closes out this project. It’s hilarious due to the childish yet funny chorus chant of “it’s simple like popping a pimple” with various other screams going on as well from the crew. Dope because they all get a chance to shine on this track and they do not disappoint. Quite a dubby bassline with a strong and steady hi-hat toppped beat drives this track along nicely. It has somewhat of a freestyle, party feel to the track yet it still retains that rugged enough feel that has been evident throughout this whole EP.

This is one of my favourite EP’s of all time. If I had to fault anything about it, the almost total absence of a DJ aside from a quick bit of scratching in “The Arrival” is a bit unusual for a release during the UK golden era. However it’s not particularly detrimental as the songs carry themselves with immense strength on all other aspects. Perhaps the lack of identity of the male MC’s is something else that could’ve been better, not that they are bad by any means but none of them really stand out as amazing or unique or at least don’t leave enough lasting presence. Deena Dee however rocks non stop and let’s everyone know who she is. Most importantly the message delivered by “Hardcore Wins Again” is of the utmost importance and relevance to my hip hop fan ideology and is something that’s sadly been forgotten for the most part by today’s hip hop generation. For me though it’s always going to be “Hardcore 2, Commercial Nil” so "commercial motherfuckers there's the door, get the hell out!"

Hear it here : http://heroesofukhiphop.com/GMP.htm

Reviewed by Czechone for Heroes Of UK Hip Hop 2007

	GMP GANXTA MAI-DAE PRODUCTIONS (Kold Sweat - 1993)
“Street rap is the still the real deal Hardcore 1, Commercial Nil. The hardcore wins again” The above lines from “Hardcore Wins Again” by GMP pretty much sum up golden era UK hip hop for me. It was hardcore - raw, rough, rugged, noisy, pure, intense and there was little concern by the artists for commercial acceptance and favour. Sure there were some artists from the UK making hip hop aimed at the charts at the time but the majority of rappers from the UK just made the music they loved with no conforming to what was happening on the pop charts and no trying to copy any watered down styles that were coming from the USA. It was truly straight from the heart British hip hop where the focus was on skills and making hard beats with aggressive, knowledgeable, talented MC’s and DJ’s getting busy on the wheels. Commercial hip hop never stood a chance against it as the movement against all things commercial was strong (although this changed over time as the mainstream took over). This is basically the school of thought behind GMP’s one and only release, the self titled GMP “Ganxta Mai-Dae Productions” EP. Track one is the brilliant aforementioned “Hardcore Wins Again”. Musically it’s a raw affair. It has a simple yet effective head nodder of a mid tempo beat with an undertone of a constant piano driven rhythm, more prominent being Public Enemy siren type noises sitting imposingly over the beat. The track features two dope rough and similar sounding MC’s who seem to go under the blanket name “Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. They have a verse each where they each take a turn at verbally tearing commercial hip hop and sellouts to shreds. Lines such as “making a track like Monie in the Middle, f* that st it’s commercial dribble” and “once upon a time British rap started to climb but now everybody wanna sound like Busta Rhymes” leave the listener in no doubt as to where these guys are coming from. In fact almost every line in this song is memorable and worth quoting. All sonic admiration of this track aside, I personally worship what this track stands for and to me it epitomises what hardcore rap is all about and what I have stood for as a fan of hardcore hip hop above all other musical styles for many years. The quality does not drop off in the slightest with “Give Em Some Airplay”. This track comes rougher than the opener with a busy hard hitting beat that seems to be attacking the speakers like bullets are being fired at them – it’s glorious - with some screeching type sounds added to it for extra sonic noise effect. It features more MC’s than the first track (i'm guessing it's the whole of the GMP crew) and most significantly welcomes the incredible female MC of the group Deena Dee to grab the mic (who I will elaborate on shortly). The wasabi spicing up this raw sushi of a track though is that the rhymes are all delivered with that Beastie Boys “Check the Mic” rapping “over the phone” slightly distorted style which I absolutely love every time I hear it. The message on this track is quite clear, exactly as the title suggests, with the crew expressing their gripes of not having their brand of hip hop heard on the airwaves and it comes as no surprise to me really that 15 years later there’s still no underground hip hop being played on the radio. As Deena so perfectly states - “do we have to water down just to get some airplay ? Well me, Deena Dee says no way. Sorry to diss but some are just asslickers, they lick the asses of the major’s artists. Pop rap equals crap, money rules the fools so now I gotta fight back.” Says it all really. The B-Side of the EP starts off with the wonderful “The Arrival”. Leaning more towards the funkier side of things this song has a few aspects to it that combine to make a dope package. For a start the rapping (performed by Timebomb) has a double or triple tracked effect to it which is really fantastic and Timebomb’s fast tempo rhyming adds to that. Secondly there’s that very familiar clown music from Smokey Robinson’s “Tears of a Clown” that basically acts as the chorus for the track and is so, so, so catchy and fits perfectly in here. There’s quite a bit going on with the beat as well with a pacey drum track, subliminal ghostly howling in parts and a tingling bell keeping rhythm throughout. There’s even a bit of DJ work here (which is strangely a rarity on this EP). I really dig this song. Okay so now we get “Down to Business” with Deena Dee on the solo tip. Honestly in all my time listening to hip hop I could count the number of female MC’s I’ve liked on one hand and even then I can’t remember the last time I played a female rapper’s album. They either try too hard to sound like males or they go the “sex sells” cheap slut route or are just plain wack and weird (anyone remember Jay Z’s girl Amil ?). That’s what makes Deena Dee stand out to me – she’s raw and hardcore on the mic but still sounds like a normal woman and isn’t talking about how many men wanna get into her pants. Above all that she has SKILLS. Okay enough qualifying statements of admiration, let’s get to the track. It starts off with a “1,2,3” sampled from Flavour Flav and significantly so as the track features the trademark PE whistles ripped straight from the Nation of Millions album, which I’m not mad at because it suits the track. The rest of the makeup of the track consists of a middle of the road sorta beat with a strong funky bassline with subtle “woos” and various squealy sounds throughout. Deena’s skills totally carry this song though and make it what it is ie. a brilliant solo showcase of her braggadocious skills. A nice little novelty occurs towards the end of the track too where she starts giggling at the end of her shoutouts to various people. She’s simply a real woman on the mic with real talent. My favourite female MC ever, yes I’m in love. The dope and rather hilarious “Simpleton” closes out this project. It’s hilarious due to the childish yet funny chorus chant of “it’s simple like popping a pimple” with various other screams going on as well from the crew. Dope because they all get a chance to shine on this track and they do not disappoint. Quite a dubby bassline with a strong and steady hi-hat toppped beat drives this track along nicely. It has somewhat of a freestyle, party feel to the track yet it still retains that rugged enough feel that has been evident throughout this whole EP. This is one of my favourite EP’s of all time. If I had to fault anything about it, the almost total absence of a DJ aside from a quick bit of scratching in “The Arrival” is a bit unusual for a release during the UK golden era. However it’s not particularly detrimental as the songs carry themselves with immense strength on all other aspects. Perhaps the lack of identity of the male MC’s is something else that could’ve been better, not that they are bad by any means but none of them really stand out as amazing or unique or at least don’t leave enough lasting presence. Deena Dee however rocks non stop and let’s everyone know who she is. Most importantly the message delivered by “Hardcore Wins Again” is of the utmost importance and relevance to my hip hop fan ideology and is something that’s sadly been forgotten for the most part by today’s hip hop generation. For me though it’s always going to be “Hardcore 2, Commercial Nil” so "commercial motherfuckers there's the door, get the hell out!" Hear it here : http://heroesofukhiphop.com/GMP.htm Reviewed by Czechone for Heroes Of UK Hip Hop 2007