The Orange Beanie

No posting for over a week, slacking behind smh. Last Monday, east-side Johnny McKenzie aka Johnny McKenzie aka Jay Rock blessed Brixton with his presence for the European stretch of The Big Redemption Tour. I was fortunately not too crippled by University work to go and TDE's original member did not disappoint. But before we got to see the man himself, TDE vlogger and and apparent DJ Mackwop came out on his own to get the crowd extra pumped for the opening of the show, admittedly in quite a cheap way by playing a lot of Kendrick's DAMN (which is a guaranteed buzz for anybody there) thrown in between other turn up anthems like Mo Bamba (which tbh i don't like but when it is loud af and you're amongst a crowd of people it does slap I must say) before the moment we were all waiting for arrived and Rock stepped onto the stage. His entire set was an almost faultless track list, with him bringing his top songs and even a few of his best feature verses that also ...

After letting one of many many Spotify playlists shuffle on through the other day, I realised that feature verses is something that is an immediate priority to talk about. In this post I'll be listing just some (could honestly note hundreds and hundreds down) that I feel steal the song, and is worthy of skipping immediately too. Some of these will be very well known, other less established but still just as deserving of your ears.  Ultralight Beam - Kanye West ft. Chance the Rapper  I am by no means a fan of Chance, in fact I have tried multiple times to get into his music but I just can't hear the attraction that others praise him for. With a new album out this year maybe that'll change, but his feature on Kanye's TLOP was one of the standout moments of the album. His soft Chi Town voice fits perfectly with the gospel infused production in the song and it is actually very very good.  1Train - ASAP Rocky ft. Kendrick Lamar, Joey Badass, Danny Brown, Yelawolf,...

Last night was the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, a night that usually has big performances and expensive outfits yet always is slightly overshadowed by the decisions made by the panel of voters who decide who ultimate takes home the prize.  Controversy at the Grammys dates back to the first ceremony, but no category sees a more over analysed and opinionated fall out than the Rap category. With Cardi B taking home the award for Best Rap Album, it begs the question - What actually is being accounted when deciding who wins? Cardi was up against some big albums: DAYTONA - Pusha T ASTROWORLD - Travis Scott Swimming - Mac Miller Victory Lap - Nipsey Hustle Comparatively speaking, is Cardi the best rapper out of that list? No. Did she have the best album in terms of song writing, concept, message, production etc? No. Is she the best rapper out of that list? No. So the Grammys system is clearly flawed and has little to do with the raw ability to just rap. Obvio...

Hundreds of rap projects were released last year, with big hitters like ASAP Rocky, Nas, Drake (lol yeah like he counts) Pusha T, Travis Scott, Kanye and many more all putting out their latest releases. With all these albums it is easy to miss to gems of the industry, some of which is nothing short of SLAP ANTHEMS.  Below is a list of songs that I feel have gone under the radar that are more than deserving of your attention: Royce Da 5'9 - Cocaine Royce has some of the coldest bars I've ever heard and as an artist in general he is massively overlooked and underrated. This may be because of his duo group Bad Meets Evil with Eminem with Marshall overshadowing Royce in terms of popularity and often lyrical ability, not to Royce's discredit. His album The Book of Ryan , it's his most personal project to date, with the standout track Cocaine being a must listen. It is a well told out story, structurally very easy to follow, simplistic but powerful lyricism with a mes...

A lot of music to look forward to this year, including PLENTY of lesser known artists about to drop some attention bringing heat. Here's a few I'm looking forward to: Earthgang Dreamville's duo from Atlanta have already had two full albums and a few EP's but their new album Mirrorland is set to drop this month. They might not be for everyone cause of their 'wacky' style but they have had a lot of comparisons to OutKast based off their high energy performances, the instrumental choices, the dynamic between the Big Boi like Doctur Dot and the song stealing Johnny Venus, similarly to 3Stacks, and the fact that they are both Atlanta natives. I saw them live in 2016 as the warm up act for Cole's 4 Your Eyez Only Tour and they do not disappoint. They have an eerie af song with another Dreamville artist, JID, called Meditate that is well worth a listen. They also were responsible for shitting me up late last year by hacking J. Cole's Twitter threaten...

Hello Ladies and Gents, welcome to The Orange Beanie. This is a blog that is purely for anything Hip Hop & Rap related and will included a range of topics, including artist discussions, album and single reviews, music videos, best of/worst of, personal favourites etc.  So stay and hear what I have to say, or don't - not gonna release a diss track. Will aim to upload 3-5 times a week about whatever topic is mot relevant at that time (or if I just get bored and want to put something up) It is called The Orange Beanie based on the cult epidemic of some Hip Hop/Music GOATS being spotted wearing Orange Beanie hats with no real explanation lmao. Feel free to follow me on Twitter, I tweet about rap a lot: @Michael17THFC Real G's move in silence like Lasagne.