#paper pabs

[elune-dibuja]

Le petit Pabs ⭐😊

[elune-dibuja]

This lovely dude

[lyingaboutazaleas]

Selected Rap Listening Aug. ‘16

Paper Pabs - Panama Papers EP (2016)

Given that the last year or so has seen North London’s Bloodline crew take wins (projects out by 9 Milli Major and President T) and loses (Big H’s Lord of the Mics debacle), one can’t help the feeling that their initial momentum has peaked. Whereas once their newfound road rap/trap influence gave a bit of vitality to a genre that was churning out desperate electro-pop crossovers by the month along with their fracticious shots at a tiresome status hegemony of East Londoners now these MCs seem somewhat redundant in the wake of so much new talent who hold the ability to straddle rap and grime with relative ease. Paper Pabs Panama Papers EP isn’t really helping matters either, because the man who was arguably the most road rap leaning of the team, in a time where that genre’s distinction from grime has begun to dissolve, is providing a somewhat uninspired project. Once you get past the intro, “Cash In On Dreams” forces an awkward hook to a dreamy glistening beat, and it only gets more dreary from there. Definitely an indicator that maybe Bloodline’s rise to prominence will dim the same as all whom they challenged.

Saint P - Sainthood EP (2014)

Saint P is one of the members of the grime group YGG hailing from Camden. With their recent exposure and work towards making singles, its been mostly member PK with his high-pitched, roller-coaster flowing performances who’s managed to score him outside collaborations while members Saint P and Lyrical Strally have remained less significant breakouts. For what its worth, all three of the MCs have only appeared to be recording tracks within the last three or four years, so with their recognition and stylistic development so relatively recent, its still an open game as to whom could become a valued solo act; after all, Novelist was the supposed ‘star’ of the Lewisham-based The Square crew, and yet it was Elf Kid’s “Golden Boy” which became the biggest commercial hit out of the crew.

Saint P’s Sainthood EP appears to be an unofficial fan compilation of recordings made at some point in the last 5 years, more than a few featuring PK and at least one credited to YGG. In opposition to the much more Overt sounds of most grime revival tracks, a lot of these could easily be lesser mixtape filler from 2005-06, and I mean that in the best way possible. Most of P’s work here at crafting songs are really rudimentary, but his bars already show off a talent in the making, albeit not without a unique voice. From the cheeky “Weatherman” to the garage-throwback “Worth The Wait”, its a good indicator both of how much progress the members of YGG have been making over the last few years and a hint of what P himself is capable of without the support of his comrades.

Dot Rotten - R.I.P. Young Dot (2008) & Zeph Ellis - This Side Of Grime Vol. 2 (2015)

Joseph Ellis-Stevenson AKA Dot Rotten AKA Young Dot AKA Zeph Ellis is without a doubt one of the biggest visionaries to emerge from Grime. Out of the third generation of MCs in the scene (among I’d include Chip, Ice Kid, P Money, and many others who offered much promise towards the end of the decade) he was a multi-talented artist who sang hooks, produced, and spat with surprising capability.

Going back to his debut mixtape under the “Dot Rotten” alias, its still striking how few projects can compare to this day. The robotic clusters of autotuned harmonies on “I’m a Leader”, the industrial tension of “I’m a Professional”, the dark ambience of “Rotten & Voltage” show astonishing maturity as a producer for the likes of a then 17 (!) year old, while his lyrics already worked with a complexity many of his elders hadn’t even touched at. In the recent binge of grime nostalgia, it seems striking that so uncompromising a project is not heralded on the same level as the “Boy In Da Corners” before him. Already a decade approaches, and he’s still accomplished more than the majority of grime with this album.

After a disastrous bid for commercial success with a lot (and I mean a *sigh* lot) of work with Ed Sheeran, Joseph disappeared only to re-emerge as Zeph Ellis. In interviews he’s stated that he’s mostly interested in working strictly as a producer, though he’s teased a return to the mic as well. Its been an incredibly productive return, with his “ACXD BXMB” instrumental getting vocaled by AJ Tracey for his “Naila” to great fanfare. A brief skim over one of his many This Side Of Grime projects shows a number of serviceable bangers waiting to become future hits, whether for their creator or artists of his choosing. Its incidental for audiences beyond core grime fanatics, but a sigh of relief for those who thought they’d lost one of the scene’s biggest talents.

Wiley - DJ Furious Presents: The Eski Sound (2010)

Released on Wiley’s Eskibeat Recordings circa his infamous leak of intended crossover album The Elusive alongside a hoarde of tracks meant for the album as well as for his (rightfully) forgotten A-List supergroup and work with other artists. With nostalgia for grime’s supposed peak (02-06) at such a fashionable high, many journalist/bloggers are failing to acknowledge the huge gap between then and now. One cannot simply say Grime fell out of favor, or lost credibility instantaneous; one simply needs to look at the writing of John Prancehall in Vice and Fader in their earlier (and far less desperate) incarnations, or Martin Clark’s column in Pitchfork where he chronicled shifts in both grime and its nemesis dubstep. It always held a presence on Rinse.FM, and groups such as Boy Better Know, OG’z and Newham Generals were able to tour across the UK, while labels such as Butterz, No Hats No Hoodies, Keysound, Planet Mu, and Hyperdub kept giving grime a chance. At the same time, no matter how dire the quality of the music was becoming, for some of them it was the height of their successes. Roll Deep’s album in 2010 was a critical failure and appears to have been a reluctant swansong for the collective; yet it STILL managed to have two Number One hits!

So what makes The Eski Sound interesting is that it serves as one of the earliest attempts by Wiley to address his legacy. A recording artist for by that point roughly a decade, it would be laughable to pretend it wasn’t the instrumentals and vocal tracks from the beginning of the millenia that hadn’t made him such an important figure for UK Garage’s transition into Grime. To this day, Wiley seems to struggle with the tension between commerciality and ‘underground’, unable to settle with moving in one direction happily. This compilation tape featuring classics from the beginnings of grime that made Wiley’s name, spanning all the way back to the Pay As U Go Kartel era, appears to be the Wiley reconciling the value of his legacy and trying to determine its worth.

PartyNextDoor - PartyNextDoor3/P3 & Tory Lanez - I Told You (2016)

Not going to go too into detail because I already got paid for both of these.

Its interesting enough that after a good 6 years of Drakk Supremacy now here to stay, we got past the point of obvious Drake rip-offs to an unquestionable influence and presence in rap, complete with disciples; some in his camp, others outside who pay x amount of lip service. As a result though, you have people going in the directions he doesn’t always go, especially given the fact that his last project wasn’t expanding his sound by any personal attempts, but more an attempt to bring new flavors such as dancehall, afrobeats or grime/road rap into his playpen. 

Its going to be very interesting going forward to see if this ‘sound’, whatever you want to call it, continues to become a larger focus point for aspiring rappers. No doubt possibly hundreds of Diet Drakes are in existence, and the likes of Abel Tesfaye and Bryson Tiller being able to forge wholly independent career paths of Drake with their own takes shows you can do more (or less), with or without his blessing. So with Drake trying to fill the limited dimensionality of his sound with tricks from everywhere else in music, it says a lot for the people who do make more deliberate turns to push those borders further like Lanez or PND have done (and they have).

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo (2016)

I DON’T EVEN WANNA TALK ABOUT IT, I DON’T EVEN WANNA TALK ABOUT IT, I DON’T EVEN WANNA SAY NOTHING. EVERBODY GONNA SAY SOMETHING. I’D BE WORRIED IF THEY SAID NOTHING.

Young Thug - No, My Name Is Jeffrey (2016)

In a continuing phenomenon, Thug’s career trajectory continues to remain at a seeming standstill. Despite the notion that reuniting with former collaborator TM88 and Barter 6 standout Wheezy might lead to a much more focused project after dissenting opinions on I’m Up and the final installments of the Slime Season series, there are no standout radio singles or bids for the pop-stardom he so easily deserves. Not for nothing, contributions by TM88 lack the severity they once held, whereas the Wheezy beats are pleasant albeit more of what we’ve heard routinely since Barter 6. Thug’s rapping is still breathtaking, and his penchant for using his voice as an instrument in a way few rappers manage is still superb. That’s what makes this really frustrating; that a guy who’s so incredible at what he does is content to prove it to himself rather than let the world know it.

[beatsbreaksbass]

@Prez_T ft  @pabbywabby   @Meridian_Dan,  @MajorB2DAL - ‘Day That I Die’

[stoodintheheadlights]

Bloodline

[lestaboy]

Paper Pablo - I Know

Back in '10

"Ah please,

I'm in Liverpool - parties,

Love me like Kenny Dalgliesh,

And Steven Gerrard"

Hold tight whoever produced it.

[unclegrime]

The man the myth Paper Pabs (@pabbywabby) talks about the up bringing of the Meridian crew

Amongst other things, growing up on North London and Skepta being top selected dj.