We wanted to push for a line up that would excite UK Hip Hop heads, and have loads of exclusive tracks. At the same time we wanted up and coming artists to be sitting alongside established artists.
I briefly caught up with Vice from Basement Sessions about the Headspace Mixtape that will launch tomorrow, 5th February 2010, with a raft of UK Hip Hop Acts dropping exclusive tracks for this new project between Basement Sessions Podcasts, HipHopHypeDog, Sensei FM and Soapbox Clothing.
For our readers who don’t know who you are, can you briefly introduce yourself?
My name’s Vice. I run Basement Sessions, an online Hip Hop community which has been running for a year now. My partner in crime is Hype Dog, one of the best UK Hip Hop blogs around. Hype Dog’s pretty new in the game but doing things properly. We are just about to drop the first volume of the Headspace mixtape, which is supported by Sensei Fm and features graphics from ever fresh Soap Box Clothing.
What motivated you to release your mixtape? Can you let us know who features on there?
Initially I wanted to release a mixtape to celebrate a year of the Basement Sessions podcasts. I got at Hype Dog with the idea and we decided to join forces. There’s a lot of Uk mixtapes that come out each year and they tend to follow the same pattern, with similar sounding tracks, the same artists every time, and very few exclusives. We wanted to push for a line up that would excite UK Hip Hop heads, and have loads of exclusive tracks. At the same time we wanted up and coming artists to be sitting alongside established artists. Weve got tracks from TY, Stig of The Dump, Mystro, Jack Flash, Alphabetix, Prose, Brotherman, Lowkey, IQ and loads more artists from around the country.
Do you have a fave track on the mixtape?
ah man! I love all of the tracks on there. Every single track on there was picked because we were feeling the artist, not just on there because of their rep. I love Ty’s new track with Corey Mwamba, thats got a really nice vibe. There’s an amazing Akira Kiteshi remix of Asaviour & DJ IQ from the A-Loop Theory that gets your head nodding every time. I’m a fan of all of these artists so it’s really hard to choose. I guess one other track that I’m feeling is Jack Flash’s new track produced by Wizard, that’s a banger!
Where do you think the UK Scene is right now? Where would you like to see it go?
The UK scene constantly gets ripped apart by everyone. The ‘Golden Days’ of the early 2000′s is way behind us, and people keep on clutching onto that sound, with artists like Taskforce, Jehst, Moorish and alike constantly selling out venues. Those guys are still sick but there’s way more out there to discover. The UK Hip Hop scene has really crafted it’s own sound, and every city sounds different. From boombap, to soulful, to double time to wonky sounding beats there is everything you could ask for in a genre.
The one thing that is stopping the scene from blowing up is the clique mentality and every city being separate. London is always classed as the hub of the scene, but cities like Leeds, Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Derby and loads more and pushing their music hard. So many crews in each city only except particular artists into their network, and as each city tends to have a relatively small scene, if you are a new artist it can be hard to push through. People need to switch their mentality and try and discover music from all over the country and across the British Isles.
There is no reason to be negative about UK Hip Hop, it’s an amazing genre with a great scene. I would just like to see it come together, and be more supportive of the artists who are really moving our country’s sound forward.
Are you cooking up any other ways to bring fresh ways of releasing music to this digitally obsessed age?
We’ve got some ideas! I think the key is to tap into that digital market but be sure double up with a physical format aswell. Headspace Volume 1 is strictly digital, but there’s some very different things happening for the upcoming volumes! For the next volume we will be bringing it to the people! We’d like to get more live shows on the go and some different ways of releasing the material.
Basement Sessions have recently began working on a series of 4 day events, the first took place at Knowle West Media Centre in Bristol in January called XLR. The event consists of Workshops, Film Screenings, Live PA’s from the best local talent and lectures. The whole idea is redefining Hip Hop. All of the footage will be uploaded and promoted, and live tracks sent out to shows and blogs, to route back to the ever growing digital scene.
Any Shout Outs?
The headspace mixtape will be available to download on Friday. Go to http://ukhiphopmixtapes.blogspot.com to cop it! Plus it will be all over the UK Hip Hop online circuit so you can check us anywhere! Particularly Hype Dog, Certified Banger, Hip Hop Chronicles, Leeds Hip Hop (of course!) and UK Allday
There’s too many! You can check the Basement Sessions podcasts at:
www.basementsessions.podomatic.com
We’ve got regular shows from myself in Birmingham, Jagos in Bristol and 456 in Ipswich, plus guest mixes and interviews with some great artists.
Our blog is:
www.thebasementsessions.com
www.twitter.com/basementsession
And you can join the Basement Sessions Facebook group at:
www.tinyurl.com/streetface
Plus check our You Tube channel:
www.youtube.com/basementsessionsuk
You can check Hype Dog at:
http://hiphophypedog.blogspot.com/
twitter.com/hypedog1
Also check out UK Hip Hop Mixtapes for a whole host of paid and free mixtapes and projects:
http://ukhiphopmixtapes.blogspot.com
twitter.com/ukmixtapes
And be sure to check them both out on Twitter plus check out their London Events page:
twitter.com/ldnhiphop
Plus be sure to check our supporters Sensei FM, who are home to tonnes of great online shows:
www.sensei.fm
And check Soap Box Clothing, who offer Limited Edition clothing with a difference:
www.soapboxclothing.co.uk
Some Other Posts You May Enjoy:
very nice interview;-)