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We've all been talking about it for ages but today was the day of the 1Xtra first Annual Mixtape awards. Presented by Lupe Fiasco (who flew in from Chicago to do the honours), it celebrated the best in British HipHop and Grime mixtapes from the past 12 months and you lot voted for the winners.

And the winners are (drum roll please...)

BEST INDIVIDUAL TRACK (presented by Ace & Vis)
Wiley – Gangstaz

BEST CONCEPT (presented MistaJam)
Tru Tiger – Eye of the Tiger Vol 1

BEST NEWCOMER (presented by Twin B)
L Man

BEST ARTWORK (presented by Dev)
Tru Tiger – Eye of the Tiger Vol 1

BEST MC PERFORMANCE (presented by Target)
Klashnekoff and Terra Firma

MOST STREET HEAT (presented by Cameo)
Wretch 32 of The Movement

HIGHEST AIRPLAY AWARD (presented by Nesha)
NASTY– Girls Love Nasty

THE 1XTRA AWARD FOR BEST MIXTAPE OF 06 (pres by Rodney P & Skitz)
Broke N English – Terms &*Conditions Vol 1

Awarded by 1Xtra for Services To The Game (Semtex)
Baby J - for professionalism
JME - for innovation

I don't disagree with any of those winners apart from that Baby J geezer, he gets everywhere he does! (only joking J!) Really glad to see Wiley's Gangstaz win best individual track - definitely one of my biggest tracks of 2006. Broke N £nglish definitely deserved mixtape of the year. Was talking to Strategy the other week, watch out for big things from them fellas in 2007.

Peep our xmas schedule and listen back to the show!

What did we miss though? Anyone deserve to win that didn't?

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If you were listening to last night's HipHop M1X Show then you will have heard an epic (record breaking?) mix taking in over 800 classic HipHop tracks from 1979-2006 in 40 odd minutes. You probably will have gone "flippin eck, I'd love to have more of that". Well...check out page. Call it a belated Christmas present!

Big shouts to Jag Skills. Expect to hear more from him in '07.

Want the tracklisting?

Read the rest of this entry

Just Blaze is co-signing them, Kanye is feeling them, a newly re-upped Rawkus are putting out their music and the internet seems to be going nuts about them. Who? DJ Double O and Naledge aka Kidz In The Hall.

I reckon they'll be big in '07 and even better than that, they're pretty decent!

Check the interview Ballerstatus did with them - I reckon best read with open in another window so you can hear what they're all about courtesy of the music player on their site.

What do you think? Will grad-hop replace Lupe and Pharrell's nerd-hop in 2007?

:
"Lil' Kim is negotiating her return to reality television on the UK's Channel 4 hit show, Celebrity Big Brother. According to the UK's Sun, producers offered Lil' Kim £255,000 ($498,640) to appear on the show, but the diva refused, demanding over £400,000 ($782,180) to star in the hit series, which has featured such celebrities as Dennis Rodman, Tracy Bingham, Brigitte Nielsen and others. Celebrity Big Brother stars various celebrities living in the "Big Brother House," attempting to avoid being evicted by a voting public, with the goal of winning a cash prize to be donated to the winner's charity. According to The Sun, Lil' Kim is also demanding: final approval of all her footage, a personal assistant in the house, her own make-up and hairstylists, first class travel for two from the United States and two first hotel accomadations. Additionally, Lil' Kim allegedly requested a two week, all expense vacation in London at the end of the show. Celebrity Big Brother, which starts next Wednesday, currently features football player Jason Cundy and his actress wife Lizzie. Also being considered for the show are Jermaine Jackson, Paul Michael Glaser and others."

Channel 4, if you're reading this, there's no need to spend all that money. Anyone who does a google image search will see all there is to see of Lil Kim! What do you think? Must see TV or pass the sickbag?

The past couple of days have been spent doing the usual Christmas family thing. Eating far too much (like I need an excuse...), swapping presents, watching trash TV (predictable soaps, "classic" fims, christmas cooks etc..) and playing with my new fone (thanks MissisJam!). I've also been thinking a lot about James Brown's legacy.

There's no denying that he blazed a pathway for many others to follow and when times got hard, wasn't afraid to deal with issues in his songs. We have to remember that just saying that you were proud to be black at the time he did was a very bold statement. Say what you like about the man, the musical legacy he leaves behind is undeniable. Without James Brown, would we have Hip Hop? Would we have R&B? Would we have funk? Would we have Soul music?

I guarantee you own at least 3 James Brown records. Whether that means you have the actual record or a record that sampled James because in very real terms, James Brown's music has shaped the sound of the music we know today through the use of samples of his music. Check - over 650 songs created from 12 of James'...
Even when he worked as a producer and songwriter, he was still prolific. Check - Lyn Collin's 'Think' not being the only sampled-to-death James as producer classic...
I only wish that I'd made it to one of his last UK performances - especially the one he did for the Â鶹Éç's Electric Proms.

Rest in Peace Mr Brown. Someone should tell ITV that it's not Abba that we need to thank for the music, it's James Brown.

Here's something we need to see over here in the UK: Ego Trip's The White Rapper Show.

The man responsible for introducing the world to Nas and MF Doom as the frontman of 3rd Bass - MC Serch - is hosting a new reality show on VH1 in the USA called 'The White Rapper Show'.

The show takes 10 wannabe white rappers and moves them to the birthplace of HipHop culture - The Bronx in NY, where they'll learn about HipHop culture, history and how to be an emcee. Big brother style, rappers will be voted off each week until the last rapper standing gets $100k and "something money can't buy...respect"

Knowing what the Ego Trip guys and MC Serch are like, I think this is going to be hilarious. I mean, FLAVOR OF LOVE hilarious (which anyone who saw that show will know is HILARIOUS with a capital HIL!). Check more info about it and

What do you think? If we did a UK version, who would win?

*cue the evil laugh*

Thanks to the internet geeks geniuses at , is now live!! I registered the domain name 6 years ago but now we finally see a website!! Big shouts to Dan, Chris and badman bald George!

I'd like your feedback please. but then come back here and let me know your thoughts.

You may even find a couple of festive gifts on there in the shape of MistaJam downloadable mixes... But I didn't tell you that!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - we need Saturday Night Live in the UK.

Hilarious send up of P Diddy - Diddy's Kiddies episode 23: What Does Diddy Do?!!!

Wasteman.

Right, It's taken me a while to internally deliberate this but here is my definitive top 10 HipHop albums of 2006. Full albums only, no mixtapes (for mixtapes, check the 1Xtra mixtape awards)

1. J Dilla - Donuts
2. Nas - HipHop Is Dead
3. The Game - The Doctor's Advocate
4. Jay-Z - Kingdom Come
5. Lupe Fiasco - Food And Liquor
6. Ty - Closer
7. Busta Rhymes - The Big Bang
8. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale & More Fish (taking it as 2 parts of one album rather than 2 albums)
9. Sway - This Is My Demo
10. Snoop Dogg - The Blue Carpet Treatment

Honorable mentions to Gnarls Barkley (Yeah, I said it!), Braintax, Akala, Dilla's The Shining, The Roots, AZ, The Clipse, Diddy, Snoop, Chamillionaire, Eminem (Re-Up album), Mobb Deep (even though it wasn't as good as previous Mobb efforts), Outkast, T.I., Obie Trice, Jehst (the underworld epics album) and Baby J.

Agree? Disagree? What's missing? Anything in the honourable mentions that should be in the top 10?

All the samples. In order. In the mix. As featured on this week's HipHop M1X Show. Check it

So while you lot are busy voting for me (currently at a respectable third place with 322 votes - if you haven't voted, go vote now..please!!) and requesting what old skool tunes you want to hear on the 15th (if you haven't yet, go here -you could win tickets to the 1Xtra NYD old skool party); it seems that 50 Cent has been opening his mouth again, this time going at a whole host of artists.

On a recent Whoo Kid G Unit radio show in the US, 50 Cent goes at nearly everyone in the HipHop game right now:
Fat Joe gets it ("he couldn't go to Koch cos I said his album was going to Koch")
Styles gets it ("his album may be coming...depends on the weather")
SRC gets it ("they mismanaged Remy Ma's album")
All the artists who appeared on the Game's 'One Blood' remix gets it ("I really appreciate those idiots for selling my CD. It helps promote and sell the record that earns me 25% of the profit.") - apparently he gets 25% of all of Game's profits.
Nas gets it ("HipHop Is Dead is the same single off his last album. How can you go through a whole album cycle and come out with the same single? Without listening to the rest of the album [the single] tells you the whole album is trash")
Snoop gets it ("He sold more records than Snoop. Game is the king of the west - how foul is it to say that?")
Jay-Z gets it (compares how much Jay-Z spent on his marketing plan compared to how much was spent on 50's last marketing plan and how many records he sold compared to him)

There's a lot more but I can't give you the audio here. Web savvy people may search if they wanna hear it...

Not only that but 50 Cent has been getting at James Bond (!) as his Get Rich or Die Trying poster was pulled from the streets as it had a gun on it however the James Bond poster has a gun on it but wasn't pulled. I can see his point about double standards on this one but he's ALSO been going at Oprah Winfrey too! In an interview in Elle magazine, 50 says Oprah "started out with black women's views but has been catering to middle-aged white American women for so long that she's become one herself."

Whoa.

You think he's bitter at the sales of Mobb Deep & Lloyd Banks albums...or does it have anything to do with his 2 albums coming out next year and The Re-Up?

This coming sunday, I'm being given the opportunity to host a Basement show on 1Xtra. Now if you don't know (get to know!!) the Basement is 1Xtra's diggin in the crates show and all through December; 1Xtra deejays are being given the chance to present the show.

Now, last week, Bailey got the chance to host the show and while he killed it, it would be unfair for another 1Xtra D&B DJ to host it this week (i'm talking about you Flight...!!) and while I have love for the rest of my 1Xtra family who are up for this vote, VOTE FOR ME!!!

A vote for me is a vote to hear some 80's classics that moulded the musical taste of the Overweight Champion in his formative years. I've been playing music to people since I was about 2 years old, it would be great for me to dust off those old tracks and play them for you all.

Yep, me aged 2, spinning for my mum and dad in the kitchen... Gangsta.

Added to the mix will be some 90's bangers and of course, no HipHop fan's basement selection would be complete without some classic breakbeats cut, chopped and scratched and thrown into the mix. Genre wise, HipHop, R&B, Soul, Swing, House, Jungle, Reggae, Ragga, Bashment, Jazz-Funk, the whole nine will be in there.

Also, as I'm giving YOU a chance to tell me what Old Skool classics you want me to play on 15th December, it's only really fair that you extend me that same courtesy...

So click here and do the right thing, VOTE FOR JAM! A vote for Jam is a vote for truth. Would you want to disappoint that young boy above?

I have to preface this with this disclaimer: I am a Nas fan. I actually liked all his other albums (even Nastradamus) - I've got every album he's made on CD and Vinyl. I used to be on the phone/email to Niven when he worked at Sony promotions every time I heard a sniff that there was a new Nas album/single out to earmark my promo 12". I've spent a stupid amount on rare 12es (including £20 on the CNN ft Nas Calm Down promo!) and since the show on 1Xtra, spent money trying to track down clean edits of Nas albums. Gutted I haven't got the Streets Disciple promo album with the original Billy Joel sampling version of Disciple but you can't have everything.

So. Hip-Hop Is Dead.

I've heard about 6 tracks so far and I have to say, the fire is back! The thing that always let Mr Jones down post Illmatic was beat choice - with only a few exceptions, he'd completely outshine the beats he was on. So far, that definitely isn't the case for HHID. Will.I.Am is working hard to prove what the Underground LA scene have known for a long time - that he's a premier HIPHOP producer.

Some people may hate on the first single Hip-Hop Is Dead as the beat uses the same sample as Thief's Theme but if you decipher the lyrics and the vibe, it's definitely one of the best Nas singles. More than deserves to be up there with Nas Is Like, If I Ruled The World and One Love.

For a while, I was thinking that Jigga was doing Nas wrong by pushing back HipHop Is Dead and then releasing Kingdom Come and kinda feared the worst for the quality of the album but I'm gladly being proven wrong with every track that I hear - the last one being Can't Forget About You.

Semtex has heard it and he seems to think that it's the best album of 2006 and from what I've heard, it could wipe the floor with other 2006 relelases: Big Bang, Kingdom Come, Blue Carpet Treatment, Doctor's Advocate, My Ghetto Report Card, Donuts... What do you think? more importantly (as the title of the blog post suggests) will this be Nas' best post-Illmatic album?

Here are the rules to get your own commercial house hit.

1) Find an obscure but great 80's song
2) Remix it with a good funky house beat
3) Give it to 'tastemaking' deejays within the scene (easily identifiable with a google search or by flicking through mixmag, idj, DJ etc...)
4) Wait until they play it....
5) Once they've played it, send it to Ministry of Sound
6) Sit back and relax!

It of course isn't really like that (honest!) but seeing , and on youtube it gives me ideas.

I feel a project coming on...

Where has 2006 gone? Why are all the big artists releasing their new albums now? Why wont all the American shops I want to buy Christmas presents from deliver to the UK in time so I can't I take full advantage of the pound's strength against the dollar? Those questions all pale into insignificance when compared with "What would you like to hear me play on 15th December?"

The friday night show goes request and old skool on the 15th December so if you have a particular old skool track from ANY black music genre that gets you ready to party for the festive season, do no further than hop here and send your request through! You could win tickets to the exclusive 1Xtra New Year's Day party...