Strictly Business Radio Show Vinyl Release
Occasionally here at UndergroundHH HQ we get the opportunity to champion other people in the hip hop scene that are pushing underground and undiscovered artists with a rare and beautiful passion. Strictly Business Radio Show is a Brighton based hip hop show run with knowledge and integrity by someone who has one of the most concisive and rare record collections i know. Formerly a pirate show, and now snapped up by Juice FM, the show not only knows its roots through and through, but also pioneers new artists who're trying to make head way. Spreading its roots, the founder has forged a new project. Placing some of the new artists they're most excited about onto vinyl, and thus celebrating the undiscovered talent that so often slips us by. This first drop features some brilliant US MCs and is sure to get your interest and creative juices flowing. Heavy beats are embelished with great flows, interesting rhymes and a great groove. Summer vibes shine through so its release seems well timed, and any one of the tunes would flow smoothly at a garden party or BBQ. The content is of very high quality, and being the heroes of the scene that they are, we've over-looked the fact that there is a lack of UK heads on this release. It's well worth remembering that while we love our home turf with a virile passion, that there is a whole world of fantastic music at our finger tips. (A list of the artists included at the bottom of this article.)
The Radio Show goes out Wednesdays at Midnight GMT online or on the dial at Juice 107.2FM. All shows are archived at https://totallyradio.com/shows/strictly-business which we highly recommend you searching through. We were able to get hold of main man Strictly Business DJ and founder Tim 'Blackbelt Jones' Aldous for a few questions...
Q: Welcome Tim, thanks for joining us, so first things first, who're the people who dreamt it up and directed the project, and how did it form?
A: Well, i guess it was my idea. I was chatting to good friend Specifik (DJ and producer for B-Line Records) about it, and to be honest I was procrastinating. He told me just to get on with it! So he and I put our heads and resources together and went 50/50 on the finance. Obviously having B-Line behind it was a great help as they have a very loyal following of vinyl heads already.
Q: We noticed you've released it on sexy blue wax, are both blue/black wax available?
A: We've gone for Blue for EP1, EP2 will be Green (as per the blue & Green in Strictly Biz Logo). Being a big collector myself, i wanted to go for something special and something that would stand out.
Q: And the cover looks very fresh and eye catching, who did that?
A: Mr. Tibbz! He's been busy creating covers for a lot of the best UK releases lately, he got exactly what we were after, something new but with a nod to those classic covers we loved so much.
Q: It seems like a huge project to under-take. How did you get everyone involved?
A: I hit em up on Facebook! Most of them I happened to be 'friends' with (in a facebook sense!) So i contacted people i respected and who i thought would be sure to bring their A-game.
Q: What is the aim? What were you trying to achieve?
A: The basic aim is to promote both the artist & the show. The premise is that too much good hip hip is getting made and then lost/forgotten because there's only a digital release or only CDs which both seem more 'disposable' somehow. So i wanted to remedy that in the manner of a hip hop philanthropist. I've hosted the radio show for a fair few years now building our dedicated audience, and wanted to try another angle. Vinyl is very much desired again, so putting it together in this format seemed the obvious way to go. Plus being a huge wax head myself, it was really the only choice.
Q: So, blunt question, but why is a UK radio show deciding pushing US MCs as aposed to UK ones?
A: Well, Specifik & I did discuss putting UK artists on too but B-Line has that angle covered so it would be a conflict of interest, so for this project we agreed it'd be 100% US (actually one of the producers is from Canada!) There is huge scope for UK artists right now, but for us at the moment it'll be US ones. There are many people who we respect already doing the UK angle very well.
Q: So this is a part 1, when is part 2 coming out?
A: EP 2 has been sent to the plant so we're waiting on the test pressings, if all is well, EP2 would be out around October.
Thanks Tim, we look forward to hearing more from the project.
Interview/words by Invokal - Verbalist Journalist
You can buy the vinyl from the B-Line Records website by clicking Here!
Snippets:
Contributing Artists:
Infinito 2017 - Pay Fee
Junclassic - Do Extra
Light Bad Health featuring S.U and Phonetic - On The Job
Haj of Dumhi featuring Reef The Lost Cause - Moonshine
Clockwize featuring Roughneck Jihad - The Procedure
L' Roneous featuring Z-Man, Equipto & Aceyalone - The Get Down
