Low-Life | UK Hip Hop Story

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1979-1985

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1985-1990

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1990-1995

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Artists &
Discographies

Delude [Purple City]

Tracklist:
1. Flossin'
2. My Love
3. Boy Watch
4. Unconditional

Manchester based act Delude claim the Urban moniker unashamedly and recently 'hit pay dirt' as they put it when they were asked to support chart-topping rapper Fatman Scoop on his recent sell-out tour of the U.K. There are four members in the crew: Sphinx, Lady C, Darren and Deeko and together they claim that they, 'have created a new game with their unique brand of radical, articulate Hip Hop…dashed with a hint of retro 80’s funk…' Impressive words to live up to, but in a professional manner it is something which they appear to be trying to live up to.

The crew do certainly have an vigour about their tracks and apparently this band are attracting a huge following nationwide with their label proudly stating that Delude, 'are destined to be one of the premier signings of 2004'. I hope that their sentiments are fulfilled by the number of units the crew can shift. They do have an accessible and up tempo style which could well appeal to more than older clubbers.

The first track Flossin is as you would expect the most hyper and is all about 'the dough, the flow, the ice, the clothes, that is how they roll'. Definitely one for the dance floor massive to bug out to. My Love on the other hand is slower and more meaningful with a story of chilling with your girl when in love feeling safe in each others arms and getting tingling feelings off each other.

Boy Watch is where the girls step to the front for their side of the love game and their pleas for their men to stop playing and causing them stress. The production across all the tracks can't be faulted and is rich sounding and funky with some kind of Dre wizardry going on. The instrumentation is well selected and the arrangements obviously put together by someone with more than a little knowledge of melodies and harmonies.

Delude are definitely on the commercial side of Hip Hop, but they have put together some very polished music which as far as I can see is well up to par and in the right circumstances should be lapped up. Enjoy the dirty sleeze of Lady C on the ubiquitous I’m Back or on the final track Unconditional the bittersweet rap from Sphinx which is like an answer track to Boy Watch in which he states that he'll unconditionally love his girl so long as she lows his player ways, but if she can't then they have to move on...

It’s all there in the grooves… massive.

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http://www.purplecitymusic.com
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