Manga Saint Hilaire is back to set the scene on fire, stepping into the studio with JoeTheThird for a one hour freestyle session.
The MC pulls no punches on the grime set, showing his endurance on the mic with non-stop pressure and setting the standard for any artist to come.
Check out Manga Saint Hilaire’s freestyle session above and for more, take in the visuals for “Mirrorman (Face Myself)”.
Mr P is back on the scene with “Follow My Lead” – going back-to-back with Wande Coal.
“Follow My Lead” features Wande Coal and hears the duo flex their own unique vocal capabilities on the mic. With clean visuals to match, the music video is a must-watch.
Check out the visuals for Mr P’s “Follow My Lead” featuring Wande Coal above!
Sharky is back on the scene with another hilarious video in the Beta Squad house featuring Chunkz.
On the latest instalment of Guess The YouTuber, Win PS5, we see Sharky and Chunkz link up to try the challenge.
The new video sees the duo guess Niko Omilana, KSI, Logan Paul, Jake Paul, AJ Shabeel, Faze Jarvis, Faze Rug and many more.
Check out Sharky’s latest challenge video above!
Chunkz has returned with a brand-new YouTube segment that involves a seriously intense cooking challenge.
The video sees the two contestants – his good friend AJ, going to head-to-head with Yung Filly’s sister for the winning title of ‘best chef’.
The objective of the challenge is that Chunkz gives a YouTuber a £1000 budget to make a burger, in this case AJ, whilst he gives a professional chef a £10 budget to make the rival burger, in this case, Filly’s sister.
The episode is full of jokes as usual and is sure to keep you hooked throughout!
Check out the full episode above!
Energies Are Real is the latest musical project from North London artist Brandz. The seven-track EP includes production from the likes of AlmightyNateSo and showcases the 21-year old’s musical ability across genres.
On the release he said, “People, including myself, tend to listen to music when the going gets tough… music is like a power bar… you use it when you need your energies recharged.”
Chunkz, AJ, Sharky, Niko and Kenny all take part and the result is an engaging match that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The last to get arrested wins and the boys all do their best to come out on top.
Take in the video above and for more from the Beta Squad gang, take in their last video here.
Kaniva is back with a short new EP for us dubbed 3. A trilogy from 1 & 2.
The 4-track project sees Kaniva pull no punches, with the rapper flexing his lyrical talent on the mic and delivering some of the coldest flows for just over 10 minutes.
With the EP arriving right towards the end of 2020, it sets the standard for what’s to come from the south London artist in the new year.
The artist has been signed to several labels yet to really take off.
Record labels: Independent Records, Operation Hollywood, Independent, Waylynn Adam & #ØH, MM Records UK
Forging his path as a member of the UK rap community since 2017, South London native Kaniva is no stranger to the microphone. A seasoned freestyler, the London rapper has built his name by igniting excitement within the minds and hearts of his audience with his impassioned cadence and brazen one-liners.
While 2020 has seen him more intently lean into the drill sound he began experimenting with last year, this new project reintroduces some of Kaniva’s earlier soundscapes; including beat selections of the more melodic variety.
Regardless of tempo, instrumental, or genre, the one thing that shines through is Kaniva’s ability to tell stories; eloquently painting vivid scenes with his words – and let’s not brush past the rapper’s bravado.
In a disruptive year for the music industry, Pa Salieu has had an unusually rapid rise. And this is just the beginning, he says.
“This lockdown has given me a chance,” said Pa Salieu, whose debut album recently reached Britain’s Top 40 chart last month.Credit…Adama Jalloh for The New York Times
LONDON — On a recent evening, one of Britain’s most hotly tipped new rappers delivered a blistering set to launch his debut album. Ordinarily, he would have faced an audience screaming his name — “Pa Salieu! Pa Salieu!” — and a sea of flashing iPhones. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, with his live appearances canceled, the 23-year-old’s first full show was to a camera in a studio, for a livestream to fans at home.
In retrospect, Pa Salieu said later in an interview over video, he was glad that scheduled summer appearances at festivals in Britain and Portugal had not gone ahead. He wouldn’t have been ready then to face such big crowds, he said: “I was nervous. Everything is new to me.”
“But this lockdown has given me a chance,” he added. “I’ve been practicing. I haven’t slept in a long time.”
Salieu’s rise has been unusually rapid — and it’s not just obstacles in the recording industry he’s faced. In just a year, he’s gone from being a small-time criminal in a tough English town to becoming a breakout star, with a near-death experience along the way.
His first success was the single “Frontline,” a visceral account of life on the wrong side of the tracks. It came out in January, and just a month later, he signed to the same management company as Adele. Since then, he has released a varied string of singles, establishing a lemon-fresh hybrid of African, British and Jamaican pop and hip-hop styles, with occasional ’80s soft-rock touches.
These tracks found wide acclaim and mainstream radio play, and next came the release of his debut album, “Send Them to Coventry,” which entered Britain’s Top 40 chart in November.
Rapping about his youth in Coventry, a town in the Midlands area of England probably best known for the excessive bomb damage it suffered during World War II, Salieu’s songs detail experiences of evading death and chasing women: hard-edged one minute, party-focused the next. They’ve been praised for their authenticity and brought him an avalanche of press coverage.
“Typically,” said Dan Chalmers, the director of YouTube Music in Europe, via email, the success of “rap music has focused heavily on streaming, but I have seen Pa on so many magazine covers in the past couple of months, which have really opened him up to new audiences.”
The British musician Mahalia, a guest vocalist on Salieu’s song “Energy,” said she wasn’t surprised Salieu had found a huge fan base in just a matter of months. “Pa is a clear example of how, no matter what strategy you have, if the music is strong enough, it can cut through,” she said in a phone interview.
Salieu’s first headline gig was a live stream. Credit… Dev Chitania
In some ways, Mahalia added, she saw the pandemic as having worked in his favor. “I see his music everywhere. And it’s not just on billboards or on TV,” she said. “I’m seeing him on my friend’s Instagram stories, I’m seeing people tweet his songs. Everybody was stuck at home on their phones and their laptops, sharing his music.”
Rap music has never been so popular in Britain, according to a recent report from British Phonographic Industry. A fifth of all music sales here last year were from rap and hip-hop genres, according to the analysis, which also found that between 2015 and 2019, the share of those sales by artists based here had more than doubled.
With that increase has come a diversification of styles, incorporating myriad M.C.-led sounds, including grime, drill, road rap and Afroswing.
Chalmers, the YouTube executive, said there was a growing appetite for artists who encompass a spectrum of sounds. “At a time when music fans are largely omnivorous and the lines between genres are becoming increasingly blurred,” he said, “Salieu resonates with a broad audience. He’s got that rare universal appeal.”
“I’ve been practicing,” Salieu said. “I haven’t slept in a long time.”Credit…Adama Jalloh for The New York Times
These accomplishments are all the more impressive given that, a year ago, the rapper wasn’t sure he would live to enjoy a music career at all. In October, Salieu was shot 20 times in the head and neck during a drive-by shooting outside a party in Coventry. Sixteen bullets remain lodged in his skull. “They can’t take them out, it’s too deep,” he said.
At that point, Salieu was still involved in street crime, he said, but soon after the shooting, he left Coventry for London. He used to carry knives “for my defense, just to feel safe,” he said. The police picked him up while he was armed with one, he said, and a criminal record had made it hard for him to find a regular job.
“Music saved me,” he said, adding that without it, he’d have gone back to crime.
Salieu was born in England, but moved to Gambia when he was two. West Africa has a strong influence on his music: His song “B***k,” includes samples from his aunt, a Gambian folk singer.
When he was eight, he returned to England, and moved to Coventry. In Britain, “to send someone to Coventry” means to ostracize them or give them the silent treatment, and Salieu said he wanted his debut album to reflect his feelings of being an outsider, especially at school, where he was one of the few Black students in his class.
“When I came back, I knew I was different,” he said. “I’ve got a dark skin shade, and my African accent is very strong,” he added.
Other students tried to bully him, Salieu said, and he was soon labeled an angry kid.
“I used to just fight, I didn’t take it,” he said. “I was taken out of classes for most of my school life. I was excluded, expelled.”
His dice with death had been “an awakening,” he said.
“When I got shot, I was refusing to close my eyes,” he said. “I was sitting in the ambulance and thinking about music. I had to survive, I had to push this.”
And he is still pushing, he said. The pandemic has been a blessing in disguise, he said, because it had given him the chance to put together an album, without distractions from the outside world.
Plus, he’s enjoyed having a captive audience for his music, at home. “It’s crazy that no one can run away from me,” he said.
And now, at the end of his breakout year, Salieu was looking ahead. “I think, ‘what artist can I become in two years?’” he said. “I have so much to say.”
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