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Everyone's favourite HipHop Soul supergroup (if they aren't, why not?!), The Fugees, are apparently not coming back according to sources close to Wyclef. He's allegedly got so frustrated with waiting on Lauryn and Pras that instead, he wants to start a new Fugees-esque supergroup that would feature 'Clef alongside 'some other female' and omnipresent hook king of the moment - Akon. Problem is, sems like 'Clef forgot to speak to Akon about it:

"He just be saying [shizzle] like that just to be creating a rumor just to exaggerate the hype, 'cause everybody miss the Fugees," Akon told . "Being that he was one of the key players of putting that group together, he kinda wanna keep that legacy alive, kinda like Elvis or Pac. So I think he just be doing it just to be bull[shizzle]ing."

BUT he went on to say:

"I don't think there's no truth to it," he continued. "But if he ever considered it, I would do it. That's my man since way back. I would do it on the strength to show people that it could happen again."

So if this happens, would Akon and Wyclef work well together or would it be too corny? Both of them have the capacity to be cheesier than Stilton but I suppose if we had a female member who could balance it out, then we'd be getting some quality music. After seeing her performance at Dave Chappelle's Block Party, I think Jill Scott would smash that role to pieces, but what do you think? Is she the right person? Who should replace Lauryn Hill in Fugees mk2?

....so while March was a pretty low month for blog posts from me due to my old laptop dying completely, expect April to be fulla posts.

Hold me to it!!

Bad news all round again - not only has my laptop broken again for the 6th time in 14 months (don't buy a laptop made by... I can't say, it's the Â鶹ԼÅÄ!) but also the Diddy & Snoop UK dates have been cancelled.

Just been sent this from a reliable source (large up miniMel!):

Despite desperate attempts have the One Love Peace Tour UK shows go ahead as planned and hoping the government would reconsider Snoops visa in light of assurances made, the tour has been cancelled. With late notice of Snoop being denied a visa, time has ran out and it is too late reconfigure the show. Credible behind the scenes efforts were made to no avail to reverse the decision.

P. Diddy and Snoop were incredibly disappointed and devastated by the news. They really did not want to let fans down this way as the UK was a planned highlight of the tour. However, this ultimately was a situation out of their control. UK Ticket holders are advised they can obtain refunds on their unused tickets at the original point of purchase.

The One Love Peace tour will next play two shows in Dublin March 31st and April 1st at The Point.

I can kinda understand the Government's position but really and truly, I think they should have let Snoop in. As he said, none of the politicians can reach the kids on the street - he can and they could have used him to help promote a positive message. I'm interested in your thoughts though. Should Snoop have been let in the country or did the home office make the right decision?

UKHH fans are going mad about it. I have to say I'm really intrigued.

Current big man in the UK HipHop Scene Stig Of The Dump has been approached by Robbie Williams to work on some music. Don't know who Stig is? His EP 'The Â鶹ԼÅÄless Microphonist' was the best selling record on Suspect Packages in 2006 (leading UK mail order store) and is a Jump Off battle champion emcee; in fact, check this - poor Asher D! (by the way, it's got swearing in so don't watch if naughty words offend you)

I reckon Robbie read my blog post about 'Rudebox', checked out who was making moves in UKHH and took heed...

Courtesy of here's what happened in Stig's own words:

“The dude got at me on MySpace. It was really funny actually - all it had was ‘Rob, Beverley Hills’. I got some message from some guy saying, ‘It’s Rob, I really need to speak to you. You won’t believe who this is!’ I’m thinking, ‘Who do I know from the past called Rob?’ Then he sent me a message saying, ‘It’s Robbie Williams.’ And I said, ‘Is it f*ck!’ It was stupid O’clock in the morning and he told me he was out in Australia at the time and was off to play football and we’d speak later. So I rang the number from my mate Ben’s phone - didn’t have any credit on mine - and some dude answers. ‘Hello? It’s David.’ Or Michael someone. So I’m just about to think it’s a wind up and this voice goes [does Robbie Williams impression], ‘Is that Stiggy?’ My opening words to him were, ‘Are you taking the f*cking p*ss?’ I’m like this polar opposite to the guy. It was surreal. And it turns out he’d saw the Asher D battle, he looked for some more sh*t, read a few interviews, liked the humour, the subjects and the character.

He said, ‘I don’t know what we’re gonna do but I wanna work with you.’ Now having spoken to him, he seems like a genuine guy, and if it comes off it’ll be a blessing, but I went through an element of, ‘How will this affect my career? Will it be a complete b*lls up?’ Going from one extreme to the other - me to him - is almost a bit of a contradiction to work with a pop star. But when I spoke to him I said, ‘You do understand I’m not a pop star?’ He said, ‘Well I’ve seen what you do and I like it. And I’m not a rapper.’

But he knows his hip-hop, you know - I was taken aback when he was talking about Stetsasonic and Souls Of Mischief…�

Good look or Good luck?

Thought it was about time I did a post for those R&B cats out there.

Seems that R&B producer Dallas Austin isn't really feeling Joss Stone or her new album. On his own video blog 'Rowdy TV' he talks about how Joss Stone offers sexual favours (in more graphic terms) to producers for tracks. Being that Raphael Saadiq produced the new album in it's entirety, it doesn't take sherlock homes to read between the lines.

**THE VIDEO HAS NOW GONE FROM TINTERWEB. SEE UPDATE BELOW

Irregardless of her recent behaviour (as widely reported in the media) I really like Joss Stone's new album. If you're a fan of quality R&B/Soul then most definitely check it out. It's not for die hard fans of Joss Stone's previous work, if you like Lucy Pearl, Common, Lauren Hill, Jill Scott etc... or any of Saadiq's projects, you'll like this. I personally couldn't care less if the music was made because she's seeing Raphael Saadiq or not...but what do you think? If what Dallas is saying is true, has she compromised her artistic integrity by letting it off for some tracks? Is it Dallas Austin's sour grapes that she's not sleeping with him? Is this all just too childish?

Holla back...

UPDATE: Dallas Austin has apologised to Joss Stone and Christina Aguilera for his comments writing on his website: “My statement about Christina Aguilera and Joss Stone was a reaction to an incident I care not to discuss in any forum and while I may have felt justified, I do owe an apology to Christina, Joss and their families. The comments I made… were purely an act of retaliation, not of malice or cruel intent. I sincerely apologise as this is not my character; nor should I have let anyone’s actions push me to this limit.�

Ah, but the damage is done Dallas. The damage was done when you produced the Sugababes & Girls Aloud 'Walk This Way' track..

As announced on Semtex's Friday Night Mixtape, Jurassic 5 have decided to call it a day after over a decade and a half of putting out that old skool flavoured Hip Hop.

While I've never been a major J5 fan, I worked with them on 'Work It Out' - a track they did with Supernatural and Joe Buhdha and they were highly professional and really nice guys. Power In Numbers was a baaad album and they really served a purpose within HipHop. No one else was doing their brand of feelgood, parent/student friendly hiphop and through them a lot of people have become HipHop converts.

What do you think though, great loss or not bothered?

So I had to leave that last post up here for a while - there was no way my message wasn't getting out there. I have a real fear of doing stand up and it just not going right. Shout outs to Ace - he's got bigger cojones than me! I'm here at 1Xtra towers a couple hours after the event and heard he killed it! Ace, if you need a comedy agent, holla at cha boy!! I can get you some gigs...

Please make sure you support Comic Relief - go cop a red nose or make sure you donate some cash. Just a little can make a big difference to someone in need.

Have this as a thank you...

Fresh from being the FIRST hiphop group to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Grandmaster Flash and 3 of the Furious Five drop by BET's Rap City and let off a freestyle....

Rahiem KILLED IT DEAD!!! Someone sign him! Who said old dudes can't flow?

I've been sleeping! This video is HILARIOUS!!! UK rapper Dubbledge decided to do a track taking the mickey out of 'waste' grime emcees & grime tracks (have to stress wasted, because as we all know, not all grime is waste - just some...) called Lips 2 Da Floor. The track itself was quite funny but this video just takes it to that next level.

The first time I watched it, I had tears rolling down my face through laughing so hard. Is this not pure comedy gold?

UPDATE: If you want to purchase the Lips 2 Da Floor track on hempeefree, hear more from Dubbledge and maybe even check out his new release 'Rice & Peas' click . Tings in ma socks...

To celebrate and raise money for this year's Comic Relief, 1Xtra are bringing you a night of stand-up comedy at a secret venue in central London. Now, as well as the professional stand-ups lined up, one (un)lucky 1Xtra DJ will also be taking to the stage and they're letting YOU decide who it will be! This is my campaign statement: For the love of all that is right in the world, DO NOT VOTE FOR ME!!!

We wanna raise as much money as possible for Comic Relief and you won't be raising anything if I'm on the stage telling jokes. Now, Jenna G is a funny girl. She'd be excellent. Ace is HILARIOUS!! He'd smack it on stage in a stand up situation. Iyare used to compere for a comedy club - he's more than qualified. Trebs...well, he'd do a better job than me!

Go here and check the profiles on each of the 1Xtra deejays up for this and place your vote. If you want to be there on 15th March in Central London then go here to register for tickets, but whatever you do, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT VOTE FOR ME...

A couple of weeks ago, I narrated a documentary on Biggie's life to go out on 1Xtra on Biggie day this friday March 9th - a decade exactly after he was tragically killed. Check it out on the 1Xtra TX pages here

I've been thinking about it and I think this year is the year that Biggie can officially be called the Greatest Rapper of All Time. Even though he didn't release as much as 2Pac did when he was alive, when speaking about actual skill, Biggie was technically head and shoulders above 2 Pac. People such as Rakim and KRS One are definite legends in the game, that's undisputable but Biggie was and is the GOAT for me.

Why? A decade after he passed, his music is still relevant and for me is still on regular rotation. What do you think? Agree with me that Biggie was the greatest of all time? If you disagree, who is and why?

*DISCLAIMER: Don't be drinking anything when you watch this. I won't be held responsible for any damage to monitors if you are drinking*

Photos & stories from Norway coming soon - upping them to Flickr now!

I'm in Norway right now! Got a couple of gigs over here - photos and stories to follow when I get back! In the meanwhile I'm sitting here using the free internet access at the hotel (damn laptop still broken) just to keep you lot up to date with some big things on youtube. Soldier or what?!! Shout out to Freddie Fisk!

:
Bad boy video for the Kanye/Nas/KRS One & Rakim track 'Classic'. I defy any HipHop fan to not be moved by this.

Deez Nuts TV have done a parody of Jay-Z's laptop commercial, this time featuring Cam'ron. The amount of time my laptop seems to be broken, I think I got a Dipset edition!!

As always, I want to hear back from you...Is Classic a classic or just tired old emcees over Primo standard beats?
Do Deez Nuts TV go at Cam'ron too hard?

On last night's HipHop M1X Show, I had 2 special guest mixes and promised I'd give you their internet links here. Well...

Check the show out by clicking here and then check out the people you're listening to by clicking below!!

The first mix was from
The second one was from

Sorry I've been away from the blog for the past few weeks - been working HARD and my lifeline (aka my laptop) has broken down on me AGAIN hence the lack of posts. Not much has been going on in the world of Urban music other than the Scott Storch vs Timbaland beef (Timbaland wins hands down) so I haven't really missed much!

I've been on the road with Â鶹ԼÅÄ World Class doing 'Freedom workshops' in schools in Liverpool, Bristol, Hull & London to not only commemorate and educate around the bi-centennary of the abolition of the slave trade but also to spread the word of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ World Class Freedom Competition. Teaching 8-14 year olds about the slave trade and then helping them write raps about it wasn't easy but I was really impressed with what I encountered. Full details on the competition (if you are or know someone aged 8-16 make sure they enter!) photo gallery and more info about what I've been up to are here.

To make amends for no blog posts have this new Klashnekoff video:

Nice exclusive for you... the first video from the Lionheart - Tussle With The Beast album "My Life". The album itse;f is getting rave reviews everywhere and was my album of the month last month - let me know what you think!