Over the last two weeks, Mark has been on my mind.  Over the last few years, I have lost many of my friends and family due to health issues or complications.

I think about my own journey and whilst making my film the amount of people I lost close to me while I carried on working.  I was asked once why to you carry doing what you’re doing.  One of my answers is that many people who were part of my journey either passed on or their lives took them in a different direction.  Some people who are still alive are proud to see me still doing what I’m doing. Living their dream so to speak.  Keeping that dream alive. 

Before Mark passed I was heading to NYC to show people a rough finished draft of my film ‘looking for the perfect beat’.  Before flying out Mark would ring me regularly from his home in Germany.  Late evenings we would play each other beats, and Mark would play me his new music and talk about his ideas. I sent him the links to my film which he watched and just a couple days before I left the UK he talked to me about his thoughts on my movie. 

What happened after most people know.  Mark is no longer here.   He has left a strong body of work that all of us can be proud of. 

Back in the 1990s when the internet was still dial up.  Websites were all code and videos were in flash format I had a site called www.nu-skratch.co.uk.  I was always out with my camera and my friend Chris Malbon was designing and building websites.  He was up on the new technology.  My close friend Steve Bridger understood HTML and would put up the content I created onto the site as and when I passed it on to him, which was all the time.  One of the reasons he left the crew.  I went to college and learned HTML to continue the site.

In 2000 I was at Marks home in Kingston where I filmed this piece.  Extracts from this appeared on my site back at that time.  I held on to this very preciously for years.

As hip hop is changing, ideas, attitudes, and even it’s history are being re-written I felt compelled to put this out.  Whatever your thoughts are, you are free to think them.  I put this out so people don’t forget who Mark B was. To get to know him a little more about him and see coming from Mark his passion for his craft.  He was a big part of my journey.  A good friend. I appreciate the friendship we had and I will never forget you.

Thanks to Casz from M.S.I for helping me film my part. Huge thanks to Damian Wilkes for introducing me to Mark back in 93. Samebeat Records.

Today I saw the deeply sad news that Chris Lewis had passed on. Myself and the team from King of the Beats are heartbroken and would like to pass on our sincere condolences to you Sasha and the family & friends of Chris.

King of the Beats what it became and what it is today would not of happened the way it did if it was not for Chris. I got introduced to Chris about 2009/10 by Kev DaKosta I believe. It was a long time ago.

I had 10 years before made the film King of the Beats featuring The Creators, P Brothers, Beyond There, The Nextmen & The Unsung Heroes. The film’s concept, the challenge of digging for records and producing something with just a budget of £20 ten years later still intrigued people. This led me to create the format for a live event which I was able to package and present alongside a tour with Mikey D from the Hip Hop Group Main Source.

When I went to London to meet Chris, Sasha and see the venue I was met with such positive and supportive energy. Chris himself was an avid record collector and also had a history with the city of Birmingham from when he was a student if I remember correctly.

We quickly formed a very strong friendship and The Vibe Bar became the home of King of the Beats. Chris & Sasha introduced me and the crew to everyone. Every member of staff got to know us. From that point The Vibe Bar became a meeting place for years.

Chris invested so much energy into supporting the event and doing everything within his power to make the event a success, it was clear he personally loved the concept of KOTB. Chris infact was the first person we gave an award to for all his support and effort.

There was a lot of us involved with the event. Sparkii Ski the host, DJ Devestate, Cutmaster Swift, Malcome. the Steel Devils, Keith, Jay King, A.Dee, Pogo, Tha 4Orce and so on. Whatever money we made we split between us. After a course of shows the next step was to start the record label. This was to give artists passing through a platform to have their music pressed on wax. This happened because of Chris’s & Sasha support. After years of working together, the Venue was taken over and Chris and Sasha moved on. Our last gig there was done under the new management. Things were not the same.

Chris had moved onto a new pasture and I got caught up in my divorce. We kept in touch via social media and would drop messages to each other from time to time. waking up this morning to see that Chris has passed is devastating as I’m not going to be able to speak to him anymore. He was such a good person. Real honest. He cared about you and how you were. He cared and had a passion for music and the arts. He was a musician. He is part of my journey and nothing can ever take him away from that.

All of us here, are deeply saddened. I personally want to pay tribute to Chris Lewis a really important part of this story. Never to be forgotten.

We can announce that this week we will be shipping the long-awaited third album in the Setting Standards Series.

I would like to take the time out to first apologize to all those who supported this project and purchased the record very early on. We are grateful for your support and patience. the record arrived this weekend and we will start shipping the item now.

Cafe Artum alongside the team at the Hockley Social Club to celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop have asked me to program an event to be held in Cafe Artum on the 12th of August.

I joined the team at HSC over 2 years ago as a dj and video/photography collaborator. The owners always made it very clear to me how important it is to them that Hip hop music is represented in their venue.

My first time djing there was alongside Birmingham Veteran E Double D. So aside from me just playing there, there are many other DJs there who do play quality hip hop music. James Swindourne who is one of the owners has always been keen to get me involved in there events and has been watching and paying attention to my journey for many years now and alongside Jayson Wynters from Cafe Artum they have been programming with their team led by Andrew Milford and George been putting on some very intersting cultural events in the Cafe Artum Space.

August the 12th to mark and celebrate 50 years of hip hop I will be screening a version of my film alongside my guests DJ Sparra ( Former DMC Champion) and tha 4Orce ( recording artist). The Event will start at 2pm and the film shall start 2.30 pm sharp. The film is 96 min long and then be followed by a quesions and answers with my self and my guests.

The Q&A will be streamed live via IG. If you can not make it tune in from 4pm UK time. The event is free and the film itself is made and directed by a local unfunded artist. In the words of Lord Finesse, ‘This is a film for us by us’.

We are also proud to present at this event our new lp Setting Standards 3. Our new release arrives from the plant this week so that this event will be the first time this album will be available to purchase. The Album is by tha 4Orce who will be in attendence. Get your copy signed at this event.

Great news, After 3 weeks since submitting the album the Test Pressings have arrived.

Thanks to everyone supporting our projects, we are very close to dropping our new album KOTB 0019 Setting Standards 3 by Tha 4Orce. A remix project from one of the UK’s most prolific and talented artists. This is a limited edition pressing.

Leading up to the release of the debut album by Chucky Smash from the Legion. The Taking of Pelham is finally getting a release.

Chucky sat down to do an interview with A Vision Media. Speaks about his history and early experiences. Forming the group The Legion.

The group had a classic 12′ Jingle Jangle, produced by Molecules probably the least talked about producer from that very special fertility we can associate producers like Showbiz, Diamond, Buckwild, Lord Finesse and Minessota among others.

Molecules return to produce most of this project the taking of Pelham 123. Tune in get to know Chucky Smash.

We are proud to announce the release of our new project.  The album ‘The Taking Of Pelham’ by Chucky Smash.   Hailing from the group ‘The Legion’  this is Chucky’s Debut album. 

Recorded at the DITC studio the album has been 2 years in the making.  Largely produced by Molecules this Album speaks volumes.  nicknamed Yoda Chucky Smash has his own sound, there is not another M.C that sounds like him.  Kick start 2023 with something that will not disappoint.  The album has taken almost 2 years to record.  In the studio Showbiz’s son Jahlil RL recorded the lp.  DJ Eclipse makes a guest appearance on the cut as does tha 4orce who had the job of mixing the album.  Key Figures returns to produce two of the tracks on the project.

Once again this is a great example of the artists themselves coming together to create, record, produce, manufacture and distribute our own product.  We are trying hard to encourage and bring each other up, learning from the experience that we can do this ourselves.

We are proud to announce Diggers issue 2 is now available to order. Limited to only 100 copies printed you can now order from our store. Shipping date Nov 10/11.

For the last 2 years I have not been able to speak about this project.  Mainly because it was too hard to believe it was actually happening.  The country had gone into lockdown and the world came to a halt as the pandemic first struck.  I was put onto furlough.  Asked to remain at home to stay safe while the government works on a plan to contain the virus.  

Whilst at home I threw myself into my creative work, taking full advantage of the time at home.  There came a time when the people in charge of this country put an end to the lockdown and allowed people to return to some sort of normality.  Gatherings were limited and people still had to social distance.  I was at a BBQ in london.  The host of the event came to me and showed me a pair of sneakers that took me by surprise.  I was a little offended that I had not had a pair sent to me due to my friendship with the artist.  I was pissed off.

Returning home after the BBQ I was still feeling a certain way.  I sketched out an Ewing Sneaker and created a sneaker inspired by the Album Funk Your Head Up by the Ultramagnetic M.C’s.  I liked the style of how the guys dressed on that LP cover.  I like Timberlands.  I created a fake advert as if the sneaker was real.  I showed my friend Marc Davis who has been a colleague and long time collaborator. Both of us are not only fans of the group but over the years have worked with the group as well.  I have real friendships with all members of the group.

I fooled Marc with the advert, he thought it was a real sneaker.  We decided to send the advert to whoever was running Ewing Athletics.  After some time we discovered David Goldberg is running the brand.  We contacted him and within an hour David contacted us setting up a meeting stating he wants to make this sneaker.

I remember thinking, is this for real?.  After a discussion with David and Marc we decided to create something to mark 35 years of Critical Beatdown.  David graciously asked me to come up with some designs for the sneaker to present.  We used the Rouge Sneaker.  The reason I went with that was that I was thinking back to the guy’s interest in the Star Wars original movies.  Rebel Base comes to mind.  After agreeing on the design we discussed the packaging.  Again David left it to me to have full creativity on the box design and paper.  This led to me and Marc looking at the opportunity to do something very special here and came up with the idea to put an album together to go with the sneaker.  A Vinyl LP was too big to fit into the box so together with David we agreed to package the Sneakers with a cassette tape.  Marc Reached out to TR Love who presented a live performance recording.  Marc got the tape mastered and passed onto me to select and edit the piece to be used.  I also got to design the cassette artwork .  I chose to put the sneaker on the cover to cement the package and that in years to come anyone that has this cassette, will know it is paired with a sneaker.

We then went into a meeting with Kool Keith which Ced Gee later Joined.  Me and Marc presented the project to him which took him by surprise.  The story behind how it came about impressed keith.  So much so i remember when Ced Joined the meeting he said Ced, Pritt tell him how you made this happen.  Ced could not stop laughing.  I won’t forget that meeting.  Lots of great energy.

We went into a further Zoom meeting, introducing David to both Ced and Keith.  David later met them in person.  Some months later David sent over the first pictures of the prototype sneaker.  It looked awesome.  They kindly sent me the first prototype of the shoe.  It was not a pair. Only one shoe was made.  I can’t explain the feeling when that box arrived and I opened a box containing a show I designed off the back of what was a fake advert.  A very proud moment.

We have kept quiet about the project fearing it may not happen.  But it is.  As you read this, on this day the sneaker is released to the public. Look out for the special limited edition pack with the cassette for all the die-hard Ultra fans.  Yesterday. I had a meeting with David where he showed me the box.  I have not received my pair yet.  I would be lying if I said I am not excited to get my pair.    You can order your pair here.

Off the back of these Sneakers me and Marc Davis have formed a partnership under the banner THE BUSY BODIES after one of my favourite Laurel and Hardy Movies.  Both of us have a long history in this Hip Hop culture and both have been on our own journeys.  We both run record labels and have been friends for what is now about 20 years.  We have already completed our second sneaker with Ewing Athletics which will be released at a later date.  Working with David is a real pleasure. His heart is in the culture and has a passion and respect for our ideas and creativity.  We keep the business very simple and we create something special. 

Do check out this interview with fellow label owner Ray West of Red Apples.   I was first introduced to him through A.G of Showbiz and A.G fame.  Together they launched their label Red Apples.  Over the years Ray has certainly been one of the very few producers you can truly say has created his own signature sound that has gotten better and better over the years.   When so many people can look at the artists such as Dilla who possibly is the catalyst of everything that came after.  There are artists such as Madlib and RIP Doom who both came with their own sound that you can identify with.   I think people have really missed the boat on Ray West.

When I was first introduced to him. The sound he brought was the first time I ever heard it.  I’m so set in my ways on the first listen, I didn’t give it a chance.  After listening and paying attention to him  I started to appreciate his sound.   The project with O.C Rays Cafe I think was a definitive turning point and since then his sound nobody comes close.  Ray is a very gifted producer.   I saw this interview with him posted yesterday.  Thanks to Powaful Impak Network for doing this interview.