Heroes Of UK Hip Hop

Being an avid album collector and rarely buying 12s, the one thing that always bugged me about the “golden era” UK hip hop that I cherished so much was the lack of albums. Hardnoise, Kobalt60, Kinetic Effect, Def J and so many more taunted me with nothing more than compilation appearances, 12s or EPs but they never released albums. Killa Instinct were another such group that had me wanting MORE with only a few EPs and 12s to their name and never an album in sight. To make matters worse they actually stated on two of their EP’s words to the effect of “tracks taken from the upcoming LP All Hell Breaks Loose” which was just a painful tease as it never happened and was just adding to my frustration of wishing for a Killa Instinct full LP ! Well finally it did happen in 2002 and my dreams came true with the release of their “Dead Breed” album on Halo’s (of Criminal Minds fame) UK Rap Records (admittedly I only heard it the first time in the last couple years via mp3 format but it’s definitely one piece of vinyl yet on my wantlist).

Geta from the group actually mentioned to me in the Heroes forum that basically “Dead Breed” is “All Hell Breaks Loose”, albeit delayed by 6 years, and it does have that 90’s classic Killa Instinct sound all over it (thankfully). This is very evident on tracks like “Raging”, “I Don’t Want to Die” and “Leg It” which all have the trademarks of classic Killa Instinct and in fact trademarks of classic hardcore UK hip hop in the so called “britcore” style. Ballistically fast rhymes from the super incredible MC Bandog backed with noisy, busy beats with manic scratching on top and horror movie samples all form what is known as CLASSIC MATERIAL and are the type of songs that hardcore UK hip hop fans live for.

Interestingly one of my favourite tracks here does stray away from the typical Killa Instinct rapid style ie. “The Messenger”. A much slower track than you’d normally expect from Killa, this one clocks in at what is best described as a headnodding pace. Bandog sounds equally as dope on the mic here as he does on the fast tracks and there’s a cool sounding “dryness” to his voice which is really evident here. Musically there are underlying pianos and a crazy yet wicked sounding whistle effect over the snappy beats throughout and the chorus has effects that sound like they would be at home on the Beasties “Paul’s Boutique”, in fact the whole track has that almost abstract yet raw feel.

“The Sparrows” is a different sort of track as well. It’s a really dark track, which is nothing new for Killa Instinct, but it’s darker than usual and wouldn’t be out of place on The Crow soundtrack (if that soundtrack was a hip hop one). Over the dark instrumental is a mix of spoken word and slowed down vocal effects and the Killa blow on this track is Bandog’s short yet wicked rhyme in the middle of the track. Not to mention some lovely DJ cutting by Geta buried within the mix but still clearly noticable.

Aside from the above stylistic variances for the most part this album is exactly what a long time Killa Instinct fan would’ve wanted and expected to hear on their long awaited debut LP. Other tracks such as “Murderous Material” (with a classic Inspectah Deck chorus sample), “Pass the Sickle” (again digging into the Wu crates with RZA’s voice being cut up something lovely by Geta) and “Pain Verse 1” (with Bandog’s cool attempt at Overlord X’s Lord V) do not disappoint by staying within the realms of the groups raw, dark and hardcore sound and just adding enough of something else to make the record sound new.

If there’s any complaint it’s that with 2 of the 11 tracks being instrumentals (dope and relevant instros however) the album is perhaps a bit short but I’m just being greedy as it is an album of brilliant hardcore UK hip hop in its purest form. Needless to say I am biased as Bandog is one of the all time great MC's in my opinion but the music doesn't let him down for a second and it never has. It is one of the most criminally slept on records of all time too, people need to hear it and talk about it as the classic that is.

Top Tracks :

"Raging"
"The Messenger"
"Murderous Material"
"I Don't Want to Die"

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

Reviewed by Czechone for Heroes Of UK Hip Hop 2008

	Killa Instinct DEAD BREED (UK Rap Records 2002)
Being an avid album collector and rarely buying 12s, the one thing that always bugged me about the “golden era” UK hip hop that I cherished so much was the lack of albums. Hardnoise, Kobalt60, Kinetic Effect, Def J and so many more taunted me with nothing more than compilation appearances, 12s or EPs but they never released albums. Killa Instinct were another such group that had me wanting MORE with only a few EPs and 12s to their name and never an album in sight. To make matters worse they actually stated on two of their EP’s words to the effect of “tracks taken from the upcoming LP All Hell Breaks Loose” which was just a painful tease as it never happened and was just adding to my frustration of wishing for a Killa Instinct full LP ! Well finally it did happen in 2002 and my dreams came true with the release of their “Dead Breed” album on Halo’s (of Criminal Minds fame) UK Rap Records (admittedly I only heard it the first time in the last couple years via mp3 format but it’s definitely one piece of vinyl yet on my wantlist). Geta from the group actually mentioned to me in the Heroes forum that basically “Dead Breed” is “All Hell Breaks Loose”, albeit delayed by 6 years, and it does have that 90’s classic Killa Instinct sound all over it (thankfully). This is very evident on tracks like “Raging”, “I Don’t Want to Die” and “Leg It” which all have the trademarks of classic Killa Instinct and in fact trademarks of classic hardcore UK hip hop in the so called “britcore” style. Ballistically fast rhymes from the super incredible MC Bandog backed with noisy, busy beats with manic scratching on top and horror movie samples all form what is known as CLASSIC MATERIAL and are the type of songs that hardcore UK hip hop fans live for. Interestingly one of my favourite tracks here does stray away from the typical Killa Instinct rapid style ie. “The Messenger”. A much slower track than you’d normally expect from Killa, this one clocks in at what is best described as a headnodding pace. Bandog sounds equally as dope on the mic here as he does on the fast tracks and there’s a cool sounding “dryness” to his voice which is really evident here. Musically there are underlying pianos and a crazy yet wicked sounding whistle effect over the snappy beats throughout and the chorus has effects that sound like they would be at home on the Beasties “Paul’s Boutique”, in fact the whole track has that almost abstract yet raw feel. “The Sparrows” is a different sort of track as well. It’s a really dark track, which is nothing new for Killa Instinct, but it’s darker than usual and wouldn’t be out of place on The Crow soundtrack (if that soundtrack was a hip hop one). Over the dark instrumental is a mix of spoken word and slowed down vocal effects and the Killa blow on this track is Bandog’s short yet wicked rhyme in the middle of the track. Not to mention some lovely DJ cutting by Geta buried within the mix but still clearly noticable. Aside from the above stylistic variances for the most part this album is exactly what a long time Killa Instinct fan would’ve wanted and expected to hear on their long awaited debut LP. Other tracks such as “Murderous Material” (with a classic Inspectah Deck chorus sample), “Pass the Sickle” (again digging into the Wu crates with RZA’s voice being cut up something lovely by Geta) and “Pain Verse 1” (with Bandog’s cool attempt at Overlord X’s Lord V) do not disappoint by staying within the realms of the groups raw, dark and hardcore sound and just adding enough of something else to make the record sound new. If there’s any complaint it’s that with 2 of the 11 tracks being instrumentals (dope and relevant instros however) the album is perhaps a bit short but I’m just being greedy as it is an album of brilliant hardcore UK hip hop in its purest form. Needless to say I am biased as Bandog is one of the all time great MC's in my opinion but the music doesn't let him down for a second and it never has. It is one of the most criminally slept on records of all time too, people need to hear it and talk about it as the classic that is. Top Tracks : "Raging" "The Messenger" "Murderous Material" "I Don't Want to Die" Hear it here : http://heroesofukhiphop.com/Killa.htm Reviewed by Czechone for Heroes Of UK Hip Hop 2008