Merlin And Iceski Nuff A Dem Check It Preview
Sometimes being a reviewer is like time travel. It gives you a glimse of an exciting future. Sometimes our inbox pings with something that quite literally makes us dribble. Both those things were true of this.
Merlin hails from Hamburg in Germany, and started out as a graffiti artist in the early 90's. After turning his cultural attention towards production, he found himself working with some of the early britcore lyrical pioneers. Merlin creates beats that rival any in the world wide wealth of hip hop. Orchestral arangements, industrial beats, and faultless production to compliment the many styles of MCing that have branched out over the years. Not only that, but when he is not himself playing the notes, he selects samples from only the finest crops in the way only the best producers do. Over time, his affiliation with the UK scene grew, as did his international one. Merlin now works closely with the likes of Remark, DJ Tones and Native Son in old school b-boy crew 'Sublime Wizardry', has produced beats for britcore supergroup 32 Troop as well as many solo artists, and along with myself in the orchestral, industrial fusion that is The Magik Word.
To many, Iceski won't need any introductions. One of the most recognisable voices on the underground UK scene, he hails from 'Milton Keynes' and started attacking the mic at an early age. Finding hip hop in the mid 80s he soon became hooked, and after putting in some time as a break dancer, organising card board bruising battles between crews, Iceski began to write and record his own lyrics. At college, he met Halo and Safe D, and together with brother CMD A.K.A Grafik, and good friend Spatts, the UK hip hop pioneers The Criminal Minds were born. Around too through the rave era, TCM played their own hand in the growth of the dance culture, and simultaneously developed into a leading force in the domain of UK hip hop. Iceski's reputation has led him to feature on many underground UK releases from the likes of 32 Troop, through to Planet Of The Fakes and beyond.
But enough about the history. This release needs, no DEMANDS our attention! So let us take a look at what all this future rumbling noise is about. The first track 'Nuff A Dem' is metaphorically, not too distant from a run-a-way hip hop steam train. With two carrages packed full of violinists chin high in liquer and drugs, another with the cast of the 1979 cult classic 'Warriors', a rare-release record store in place of the catering carrage, the table tops are Numarks, the ticket bloke wears a cap and high tops, and for an engine - speakers forged in the fires of hell. The continuous chug seems to chant - "Turn them UP!" I can only obey. Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention? - This hunking chunk of moving mechanical mayhem has just mowed you down in true 80s public information film syle. And that's all before the MCs even put vapour to the microphone.
Iceski kicks things off with a barrage of syllables and well directed attitude. He spits with fire and energy the likes of which, not many MCs can muster. Lyrical, on point and enraged with hip hop justice. When done, he passes on the baton to Tekneek AKA Uncle Mic Nitro who proceeds to clout our ears like a dissaproving father of hip hop culture, that just found out we emptied the kitchen cupboards and turned all the pots and pans into a drum kit complete with sieve symbols. He carries the mid-section of the song energetically to the final leg, and MC Gambit. Coming from Switzerland, Gambit displays a style remenicent of the double-time lyricism of ragga and drum and bass. His vocals create a machine gun torrent of letters hitting targets, moving or otherwise. The two feature MCs chosen here compliment both the beat, and Iceski's passion, and they do it in style. All this fire is being fanned flame by flame by cuts from a dream team of DJs - Tones and Highfly. Every slice of vinyl abuse fits perfectly in it's place and the weight carried in this track rumbles like an earthquake. A fuel filled freight of ferocious fighting forms, and further more, forever flat out and flaming.
Beginning the second track with an ear full of the first, the catchy worm that 'Nuff A Dem' left behind busy feasting, seems like it would be a challenge to any producer/MC combo. Not so here. Beginning by blessing the speaker cone with some errie sample about 'a hotel over the fires of hell', 'Check It', encapsulates 'the hip hop head nod'. The MC grabs you by the shoulders and starts to push you through the entrance, passed the bellboy at reception, into the glass elevator and straight up to the pent house suite. The melody here is supplied by a sample so catchy it feels like it's become sentient and demands to be another personality in the track. Iceski rides the production effortlessly and twists in and out of the loops in his own unique style. The track has it's own set of rules and it's own mandate for hip hop domination. Strong and proud, but it also knows how to compliment Nuff A Dem well.
Merlin and Iceski have done something rare and brilliant here. The songs are like nothing i've really heard before, yet they feel as familiar as some well worn wax. The two pieces could easily stand alone on the battlefield, determined and proud, defiant in the cold. But as a combo? And printed to vinyl? They'll scare the enemy half to death. This is collaborative hip hop at it's best. You'd be mad not to indulge yourself, and by the time the end-of-year reviews start coming in, neighbours will more than likely still be hearing this pumping out through walls and windows everywhere.
