Low-Life | UK Hip Hop Story | Black Milk - The Competition / The Pretender 12" [Big Teeth]

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Black Milk - The Competition / The Pretender 12" [Big Teeth]

Tracklisting:
01. The Competition
02. The Competition (Instrumental)
03. The Competition (Accapella)
04. The Pretender
05. The Pretender (Instrumental)
06. The Pretender (Accapella)

We are going to be covering a fair deal of Essex based Hip Hop in the coming updates. There is a whole heap of talent out there in the sticks and the interestingly named Big Teeth records label is where our attention first focuses. They are feeding the youths out there on some distinctive Black Milk which is definitely reaching the parts other milks cannot reach. The Black Milk Collective formed in late 2002 and features the lyrical talents of Graffiti artist Brave One (Scott Irvine) formerly of the New Wave Poets and together they have produced a solid opening to their musical careers.

The A side track, The Competition opens with a really fat set of drums and, perhaps a too obvious sample from Rakim, but it sets out with a powerful statement what the crew aim to achieve. The track is a bit of a conundrum though, and some of the elements don't quite run together and it feels like too many ideas have been flipped into one song. Each element on its own is dope, from the big open sounding beat, the cuts from DJ Pager, and the powerful orchestral sweeps with violins and piano, but the vocals seem a touch understated for the hardness of the beat and sit back a bit in the mix. Just before the chorus the strings are filtered and Brave One comes to the forefront and it was this point in the track that I realised how good he was. Now on listening back from the beginning I can hear this, but on first play the impact was not there. Some of the flows don't seem to hug the beats as well they could especially when Brave One tries to get too many syllables into one line. Never the less this is a deep track that I am actually quite liking.

The B side sounds more to me like a complete idea. The Pretender opens with a chatty pub based skit which flips to a dark scene before the more funky and upbeat music kicks in. This lighter backing works better with Brave One's relaxed and laid back vocal tone. His lyrics are meaningful, definitely on the intelligent tip and thankfully the levels of aggro are at a minimum. Brave One will need a few repeats before you get everything he is saying in his philosophical spit. He expresses his thoughts well covering societal observations, but also relating this to his own situation and others who fall into the traps and pitfalls life throws them. Once again the drums are well mixed and the piano loop running over the top along with the periodic synth sound make for a real classic tune. Staying true to the ideals of Hip Hop the chorus features DJ Pager on the cut once again to round off a dope piece of wax.

So here we have two contrasting tracks both of which I'd recommend, but are possibly let down slightly by the tightness of the vocals. Instrumentals and accapella of each track are included on this value 12". The group are currently working on a five track EP which will be their follow up release, one again on Big Teeth Records. Overall Black Milk have made a solid debut and should go on to bigger and better things. Make sure you can say you were there right at the beginning.

Black Milk Discography :: Big Teeth Discography
www.big-teeth.co.uk