We are really looking forward to supporting one of our favourite producers Dubbel Dutch this Friday at Forever at Birthdays. Dubbel Dutch is part of the Mixpak family and is one of the producers behind the recent Popcaan album as well as a stream of remixes spanning RnB, afropop and dancehall that we have been rinsing at our parties over the past few years. If you are in Manchester this week you can catch him at Frontin alongside Jus Now, but for the London crew all roads lead to Birthdays this Friday! More info and tickets here.
Yesterday Popcaan released his debut album Where We Come From on Mixpak with help from strong production team Dre Skull, Dubbel Dutch, Anju Blaxx, Adde Instrumentals and Jamie Roberts and trust us it was worth waiting for. On the production side each producer has excelled and every tune on the album is sounding clean, crisp, considered and perfect for Popcaan’s vocal styling.
Popcaan has really grown as an artist and on this album he proves himself as the Unruly Boss, stepping away from party anthems like Ravin and Party Shot for a second to lament over a solitary steel pan on Ghetto (Tired of Crying) and to give his commentary on the status quo on The System. The album of course has some tunes that are more on the slack side like Number One Freak, Love Yuh Bad, and Cool It with Poppy showing his Gallis side with brilliant lines like
any line from Naughty Girl weh mi quote, pum pum run like Usain Bolt
The album includes Everything Nice which has become an anthem since its release. We’ve seen artists like Konshens, Aidonia and Stylo G show their support for the tune on instagram, videos of crowds call for forwards at JA parties, and people vibing to it as the lights turn on at the end of our parties.
Our favourites so far are Addicted, Cool It and Ghetto(Tired of Crying) but as twitter conversations yesterday proved the favourites will probably keep rotating. This is truly the sign of a great album.
The album ends Popcaan telling his story on the title track, which reminds us a little of Drake’s Started From The Bottom. Popcaan is reflecting on his journey so far from dreaming big to meeting World Boss to ‘bussing a spliff in the dream car’ while never forgetting his beginnings.
Real thugs never forget the dump land or where mi come from
As the tune fades out it makes you want more and there is no doubt in our minds that there is a lot more to come from the Unruly Boss.
First of all we had Body Party and Hymn , now it’s Inevitable and Sorry blended so well. Can we just skip the middleman so to speak and get Ciara and Dubbel Dutch working together? Maybe get Future on Adlibs? Also Inevitable riddim is such an ear worm that i vibe to it randomly during the day with little prompt.
So this came out a month ago and boy does it still bump. HDD fam The Large‘s mixes really stand the test of time. 6 months later they still get you in that spirit, 1 of her greatest talents is picking songs that stand the test of time. It’s easy to make a hot new dancehall mix and fill it with what runs the clubs at this moment but not stuff that will stay fresh down the line. That’s not to say that this mix rests on it’s dancehall laurels, it mimics The Large’s sets in incorporating sounds further afield. Afropop from Olamide and Gaffici, upfront club music from Dubbel Dutch, Spooky and some guy called Murlo. In fact many people missed out on the fact that he did the cover for her as well. Trust me this mix is pretty much what The Large does in the club, i fully expect you to fall in love with this and then make sure that you catch her next time she plays in New York.
As 2013 comes to a close, it’s time for our Top 20 tunes of the year. This year more than others we feel that there is a growing scene with various radio shows, labels and DJ’s playing more and more of the music we love. There has been a lot more attention payed towards Africa, Soca finally getting more shine and Dancehall moving more and more into the mainstream. There may have not been a big crossover song but instead there has been many a song which has caught the imagination of the public. We have certainly seen a shift in our raves where people are demanding we play stuff that a few years ago they would have looked a bit lost at. Let’s hope that this momentum continues with more and more exposure to the World Carnival sound. This list has been based on the tunes that we have been playing out at our numerous raves, listening to at HDD Headquarters and generally being the best ones out this year.
