Video: Kano, “Rock ‘N’ Roller”
- story Matthew Schnipper
In April 2005’s FADER issue 29, with Bloc Party on the front cover, we put Kano on the back, largely on the strength of his massive “Ps and Qs” and “Reload It.” “Ps and Qs,” specifically made an impact over here on this side of the pond, and in his story, Edwin “Stats” Houghton says, “‘Ps and Qs’ especially is a new kind of grime that really sounds like the homegrown ‘answer to hip-hop’ UK heads have been claiming of every new sub-genre from jungle to D&B to garage. It has less of the offbeat ’skitter’ of Eski tracks and you could hear the ominous synths backing Eminem or Ludacris or the Game without even squinting your ears too much.” That encroachment on US rap from his end to ours, though, four-and-a-half years into the future, flipped on its end, and Kano is now working with some Venga Boys meets T-Pain Auto-Tune circus rap. You can hear Mariah Carey on the theoretical remix to this without squinting your ears too much.
Video: Kano, “Hustler”
- story THE FADER
Watching the almost-rise of F29 cover star Kano was one of the more epic letdowns in all of grime’s reign as Music That America Cared About For A Month. His album Home Sweet Home was never even released in the States, but Kano is back with “Hustler” from his upcoming mixtape 140 Grime St.. Through deductive reasoning (mind journalism,) we’re now assuming that Kano’s random appearance in Def Jam Icon did not result in a money flood. Oh yeah, there is brief nudity in this video, so don’t watch it if you are at work, unless you work here.
Bonus: Kano Live Session on BBC 1Xtra with Ras Kwame
Prancehall’s Bass Odyssey, Part 13
- story THE FADER
Watching Kano progress as an MC reminds me in some ways of a time-lapse video of a decaying apple I once saw at the Tate Modern. (Note: the video I linked to is not the same one, but I do believe it portrays equally as vivid an image, nonetheless.) In case that is too complex a metaphor for some readers, what I’m saying is he’s getting worse. And very quickly. At the start of the week his new mixtape, MC No. 1, arrived in the post. It makes for painful listening. There are pointless versions of stuff like “My Name Is” and “Crank Dat”; his slowed-down flow sounds lazy, and he does this weird screechy ad-lib thing that makes him sound like Scooby-Doo.
Last week on an episode of My Super Sweet 16 UK an aspiring WAG (that is the wife or girlfriend of a soccer football player, Americans) called Lauren had a special guest performer at her birthday. Rumours among her party of annoyingly rich but infinitely tasteless young guests were that Kanye West was to be the act performing on this most special of nights. It soon transpired that the surprise performer was in fact Kano, who was greeted with a wave of apathy by the horrified and underwhelmed guests. Listening to the opening bars of Kanye West’s “Stronger” on MC No. 1 and then hearing Kano, not Kanye, come in I could genuinely sympathise with how those poor children must have felt. Check out some of the tracks from the mixtape on his MySpace page.
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posted on Apr 24, 2008 in PRANCEHALL’S BASS ODYSSEY tags Ghetto, grime, Kano, Prancehall's Bass Odyssey
For A Green Card I Carve Him Up Real Nice
- story THE FADER
More from the international GrimeWatch desk: a few months back, our man Matt at RWD sent us their latest issue, with Kano decked out Tony Montana-style. And now the most recent VIBE seems to be, erm, following suit (yar har!) with their 50 Cent feature. We’ll leave any dot-connecting to y’all, but hmmm indeed…
Win A Date With Kano
- story THE FADER
If by “date” you mean “chance to go on tour with” – which we do, tough guy! The Jump Off is looking for UK battle rappers to throw down for £100 and a slot on the 10 Rounds Tour featuring Kano, the Streets, and the Mitchell Brothers. Kinda like 8 Mile except like, British and stuff (also: it ain’t a movie, there’s no Mekhi Phifer). More battle info can be found here. Go sharpen those punchlines, scrappies.
