Leeds Hip Hop Scene

Did you know that “Out of Phase” was nominated for Album of the Year in the 2005 Independent Leeds Music Awards. But if you try to track it down you are going to have a problem - all the usual resources were out of stock when I tried tracking the album down and it took a lot of asking around and eventually contacting Mr Eliphino himself before a copy was obtained! After this amount of hassle I was expecting something big; and I was not at all let down by this eleven track offering from this young producer.

Eliphino keeps a low profile he may crop up as support for a few big nights in Leeds but he doesn’t brag about town and appears to take his music very seriously. He teams up with some local MC’s on 3 of the tracks Chief Wiggum, Double D Dagger, Haiku and ProOptic each seem to rhyme with the same maturity and intelligence as the beats they are provided with. The rhymes are relevant to the areas these guys are from and Haiku even name drops the Yorkshire author Alan Bennett. Chief Wiggum and ProOptic spit their bars at a high and aggressive pace whilst Double D Dagger are more methodical and literary.

As I listen more to the music you appreciate the intros and outros of each track as they ambiently fade in and out of the jazzy bass and sax samples, short snares, voices, vinyl surface noise - anything and everything goes and those are just a selection of the samples I can make out; I’m sure even a birdsong is in there too.

This release is far too impressive to be on such a short release, rumours are Eliphino is gaining major label interest and on the back off this exquisite offering I am not surprised, his musical maturity is far beyond his years and he lays down an excellent offering that every Leeds head should own!

The Editor

www.myspace.com/eliphino22