I’m possibly this site’s least athletically inclined contributor (my physique has been described as “Snoop-esque,”) but even I’ll be getting together with the guys, a case of beer and all the food that’s fit to eat tonight, cheering on a bunch of people attempting to move a ball from one side of a field to the other– despite the best efforts of another bunch of people. That said, the pre-game festivities are a few hours away and I’m nowhere near interested enough in this “foot ball” to start caring about it first thing in the morning. Enter the good people at Fact Magazine, who despite probably being just as obsessed with an entirely different kind of football, have seen it fit to put up a fantastic mix of Afro-Pop compiled by London iconoclast and clever-name-bearer Bass Clef. Featuring all original wax and no compilation tracks, this mix rivals last night’s Dam Funk tune in terms of sheer “realness,” capturing the best moments of 15 minute rave-ups and slamming them together Madlib-style, hopefully giving labels a few new ideas for their reissue schedules.
There’s been a lot of talk about rich white people and African music recently and I for one don’t care about it one way or another. Maybe Bass Clef was born to a posh London family of biscuit-barons and travels around Africa robbing it of its original wax. Probably not. The important thing is that he doesn’t water the sound down and rob it of its vitality for a bunch of aesthetically challenged scenesters who’ll be on to the next thing faster than Jay-Z ducking questions about State Property. Or to put it in laymen’s terms: “Brah, I’m not rippin on you cuz you’re rich, I’m rippin on ya cuz you’d consider The Police, “the world’s best reggae band!” had you been born 20 years earlier.” To twist the old Hip-Hop maxim: it’s not where you’re from, it’s if you’re wack. Bass Clef is not wack. Those Balaclava kids? Yeah, pretty fucking wack. Tracklist and interview here.
Download:
MP3: Bass Clef – Fact Mix
