Download the 24-Track 'Boxed MMXX' Compilation

On August 30, the Boxed crew is taking over Corsica Studios with a line-up that features Teki Latex alongside Brackles, MJK, and more (grab tickets before they're gone). To celebrate, they dropped a massive 24-track compilation—Boxed MMXX—featuring a bunch of gems, including new material from Slackk, Flint, William Skeng, and plenty more. Don't even trip; press play below and grab the full compilation via Bandcamp. You're welcome.

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Lil Pump "Esketit (Kozee Edit ft. Stormzy)"

One day, Kozee asked me if I realized how grime-y Lil Pump's "Esketit" was. I hadn't, because I don't rock with Pump's music like that. Sure enough, I peeped the track and agreed. She's since double-backed and hit the world with an edit, complete with some Stormzy bars, to prove how grime-y this new school cut is. Stream below, and make it yours via Bandcamp.

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Royal-T Unleashes His "Flat Shoe Riddim"

This guy Royal-T always gets me. He's been around forever, stays consistently dropping heat, and always finds a way to amaze. His new release, "Flat Shoe Riddim," got official vocals from three MCs: ONJUICY, Smack, and my personal favorite, Riko Dan. It's a truly international affair, with Riko spitting in English, ONJUICY going ham in Japanese, and Smack busting lyrics in Czech. For any grime MCs who want to get their own country inna grime riddim, grab the instrumental and kick the linguistics. International grime soundbwoy killah!

Stream below, cop via Bandcamp.

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Boxed Gives Away Five Mixes In the First Volume of Their Mixtape Series

Did you miss Boxed at Corsica Studios last night? I sure did, but it's OK. To celebrate their club night, they unleashed the first volume of their Mixtape series, featuring five stellar mixes for the new school grime lovers. At the top of the charts are mixes from Slackk and Grandmixxer, who are buy/download on sight for me. They also have mixes from Sir Hiss, Le Dom B2B De Grandi, and India Jordan. Turn these UP and, like, clean your house or something.

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rockthedub radio: March 2018 Edition

It's not that often that an episode of RTDR lands on this site's birthday, but that's where we're at in 2018. We're talking motherfucking 12(!) years of this site being a thing in some way, shape, or form. We used to do free compilations, but the kids apparently don't download music anymore, so here's a fire hour-ish worth of our favorite tracks from the month of March.

In this edition, we've got a pretty wide variety of material here. Brand spanking new material from The Weeknd, Logistics, and DJ ESCO (alongside Nas and Future) as well as a stellar cut from Blocks & Escher's new album on Metalheadz, cuts from Pac Div, Riko Dan, Ross From Friends, and the homey DJ Taye. You know how WE do.

Stream below, download via iTunes, and check the tracklist down bottom.

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Boxed Turns Five With Massive 25-Track Compilation

When it comes to copping on sight in the grime world, nothing gets better than the Boxed collective. Something about their wave, which ranges from the more cloud-y fanciful sound to the more intense 8-bar madness, always gets me open. This Friday, Boxed is celebrating their fifth birthday at Bloc in London (cop tickets ASAP), and they put out a huge 25-track compilation, which you can grab for whatever you want to pay right now. Featured acts include Grandmixxer, Trends, Inkke, Gundamn Masro, and many more. Stream the full comp below and turn up via Bandcamp.

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rockthedub radio: February 2018 Edition

We're back with our favorites from February; sorry for the delay. There's a boatload of lit rap to start, with new material from YG, Nipsey Hussle, SOB X RBE, and that BlocBoy JB featuring Drake song. We also get into some feisty electronic beats, including new drum & bass from Hybris, Bensley, and Need For Mirrors, as well as gems from Wiley, S-Type, and the Foreign Beggars.

Stream below, download via iTunes, and check the tracklist down bottom.

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GUNDAM Dropped a Compilation Full of Grime Refixes

I'd be lying if I said I knew what a GUNDAM was, but shouts to the plug who sent me to his Bandcamp page. If you're a fan of 8 Bar UK grime and needed refixes of bangers from Kanye West and Future, GUNDAM003 is exactly what the doctor ordered. Simple, yet effective ass refixes, with some surprises thrown in (shouts out for that refix of Zinc's "138 Trek").

These are absolute party starters, trust. Throw on that "Mask Off" rework and tell me the crowd isn't on their feet. Stream them all below, and download via Bandcamp. If you need more, GUNDAM002 dropped back in January. You're welcome.

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DJ Cable's "Work" Flips a Hip-Hop Classic

DJ Cable's a certified favorite here at RTD for tracks like this. The UK-based DJ/producer/label head has an edge up on most, considering that he's a nimble-fingered DJ who knows how to properly slide in between the worlds of hip-hop and grime to create truly unique tunes for the heads on both sides. Riddle me this: who else would take the sample from East Flatbush Project's "Tried By 12" and turn it into this diced-up UK grime mastrerpiece? Add emcees Reece West and Grim Sickers to the mix and it's MURDAH!

Cable's not only giving away the vocal for "Work," but he's also giving you the instrumental, all for the free. What more could you truly as for?

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Kozee Unleashes Long-Awaited 'Untitled' EP

If you're not up on the Left Coast bass master known as Kozee, you better get to know. I pegged her as a woman to watch in the electronic music scene a few years back, but truth be told, she's been putting in work for well over a decade. She's recently dropped gems via Moveltraxx and Influx Audio, but today she's finally sorted out a three-track EP that I've been salivating for.

I feel like she first hit me with the dubs of these back in 2015, and I was instantly hooked by the Minnie Ripperton sample she threw in there. Her Untitled release is three different takes on this riddim. The main mix is a bit more garage-y; it's hypnotic but isn't as thunderous as the "Detroit Edit" of "Untitled," shouts to WhatupDetroit. To round things out, she laced the Detroit Edit with some vocals from Tinchy. It's a banger.

You can grab the full release via Bandcamp for whatever tf you want to pay, and if you're down in Austin for SXSW, we highly suggest you keep it locked to Kozee's Twitter and her Facebook page, as she's set to be pretty busy while she's down there (although truth be told, you need to be following her anyways). WHEEL!

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Starkey Goes 8-Bar For His New Champagne Drip Remix

When I was younger and buying CD maxi singles in the mid-to-late '90s, I used to love getting dope remixes from producers I'd never heard of. It's how I fell in love with producers like Hive and DJ WAlly, if I'm being forreal. One producer who still knows how to show up and show out when it's time for him to get his remix on is Philly's Starkey, who recently turned Champagne Drip's "Of Course I Still Love You" into a hypnotic piece of 8-bar grime. Instead of the more hyper 8-bar instrumentals that the UK grime producers churn out, Starkey's is much moodier, with loads of fuzz and end-of-the-world vibes to it. Proper bass blaster.

This remix is taken from Champagne Drip's Of Course I Still Love You EP, which is out now via Saturate Records. You can pay what you want via Bandcamp. Stream the full track below, then show the people some love. If you want something else entirely from Starkey, check out his Charting Stardust album, which dropped in November and is chock full of ambient vibes.

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Trends & Boylan - "Norman Bates"

This time last month, I was jamming to Trends' "Thunderussy," and almost two years ago I was dropping his sick set for the DAD Mix, so it's fitting that I'd fall in love with another new one from this UK-based grime producer. Linking up with the equally deadly Boylan, these two produced "Norman Bates," which is a truly spine-tingling piece of bass music. Those frightening strings should be familiar, as that ODB vocal sample should be as well.

"Norman Bates" is the sole collaborative cut from Trends and Boylan's Norman Bates EP, which also includes a solo track from each of them (one of which is Trends' "Octopus," which I've been waiting for). The full release drops on Friday, December 16 via Oil Gang. Stream "Norman Bates" (and the other two tracks) below.

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RTDMIX005: Che Grand

I know we just hit you with a smashing drum & bass RTDMIX from Jaxtella last week, but I felt like we had to do something special for Black Friday, and nothing's bigger than Lessondary crew member Che Grand stepped up for a special ZFTP set for the RTDMIX.

Che's been one of those artists I've loved to see grow; hell, I first interviewed him for this very site ten years ago, and he's just moved from strength to strength. He's known primarily as a rapper (and a very good rapper at that), but lately you might have heard him on the boards, producing Tanya Morgan's entire last project. For years he's been dropping his ZFTP mixes, which have consisted of everything from all-out rap projects to amazingly curated mixes. His contribution to the RTDMIX is more of the latter.

Now, it's customary that all ZFTP mixes don't come with a tracklist, so while I know errthing on this, you won't. Sorry. I can say that there's some dope UK grime on here, some material from Che's studio, and music from the #1 album in the country. Outside of that, press play on this RTDMIX and zone out all the way to Zamunda.

If you want more of Che, he tells me that his next project, I Think I'll Keep It Like It Is, should drop before the end of 2016. No release date yet, but keep it locked to his Bandcamp (or rockthedub.com) for more info.

You can stream this mix below, and if you're so inclined, subscribe to the podcast

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DJ Cable Presents the Best of Old School Grime

Image via Alex South

A while ago, I asked DJ Cable if he could sort out some classic UK grime tunes for me. I'd been getting into the grime scene, but had no history. He laced me with a grip of tracks, really proving that he's an authority on this thing. While he rocks with his Triangulum imprint, showcasing the future of the grime scene, he's also a historian, so him dropping this "Best of Old School Grime" mix is perfect.

Throughout this 36-track trek, Cable manages to squeeze in tracks from DJ Marsta, Jammer, SLK, Kano, and many, many more; "some obvious, some not so obvious" as Cable puts it. He also mentioned that he has a boatload more that could've fit in this mix, so be on the lookout for a possible Volume 2...or Volume 3!

You can stream "The Best of Old School Grime" below; if you want to download, we've got you covered.

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Boxed and Local Action Release Massive 16-Track Compilation For Free

While folks seemed to love Skepta's Konnichiwa, it definitely wasn't the "grime's a thing in America" smash that many assumed it'd be. Hell, some fakers are talking like they aren't even fucking with the genre anymore. Me? I'm kind of glad they are moving away from it. There's no real room for fairweather grime heads.

In any case, while I won't be at the massive Boxed x Local Action show this Friday (because going to the UK on a whim doesn't really work for me), I'm loving this free 16-track compilation that heads from the Boxed and Local Action crews put together. Loads of dope producers are on here, including Slackk, Finn, Trends, JD. Reid, Fallow, Loom, and plenty more. The real winner on here, in my opinion, is "Thunderussy" by Trends, which turns the source material from Kanye West's "No More Parties In L.A." into a rowdy anthem.

The beauty of this free release isn't that it's free, or that it has a number of top quality producers on it. It's the fact that it showcases all sides of the grime spectrum; the more ambient tones are represented right alongside the heavier, trap-esque rhythms. There are even a few vocal bits mixed in for good measure.

Stream the full release below, and grab it for the price of an email address. You're welcome.

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Swindle and D Double E Team Up For the Laid Back "Lemon Trees"

In August, Swindle kicked off his Trilogy in Funk project with his Connecta EP. While that project was hyper Brazil, Swindle's taking it back to the UK with Funk & Grime, an EP he collaborated on with D Double E and Ghetts. Seeing that summer has unofficially come to an end in the U.S., it made sense that Swindle and D Double's track, "Lemon Trees," would get a fresh video.

Something tells me that the G-funky vibes to this one will be getting a proper rinse on this lazy Monday afternoon/evening. Something about Swindle pouring up some liquor in D Double's cup has me itching for a concoction of my own.

The Funk & Grime EP drops on September 16; the tracklist is down below, and iTunes pre-orders are available right now. Swindle's also currently on tour, including a quick shot throughout the month of September. Check out those dates down below as well.

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rockthedub radio 033: Electronic AF

This week, we do things a little differently. Instead of being two hours of wall-to-wall hip-hop, we take things into more of a electronic lane. Why? Well, I'm hoping people haven't slept on the RTDMIX series that started earlier this month. Also, I've been on a grime kick.

For the first half hour, I drop in a bunch of new material, featuring Kemba, ScHoolboy Q, and Desiigner, but then dipped into more of a grime ting with Trim, The Bug, and Flowdan, before rounding things out properly. I then slapped on the new mixes from Dev79 and Reid Speed, and I want more of you to get acquainted with our other podcast series. Sue me.

When you're done suing me, subscribe to rockthedub radio on iTunes.

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AJ Tracey - "Naila (Murlo Remix)"

Get your weekend turn up right with this fresh remix from across the pond. Murlo took this AJ Tracey cut and made it something that'll have your woofers rattling through Monday. Stream below, and snag that free download ASAP.

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Logan Sama and Trapstar Look Back to the Future With Their New Mixtape

Logan Sama is a must-listen when it comes to UK's grime sound, and his new tape with UK-based clothing company Trapstar is essential. It brings a grip of classic grime instrumentals (including bits from Wiley, Skepta, Macabre Unit, and Jammer) and a grip of fierce MCs (including Newham Generals, Novelist, Stormzy, and more) is a piece for those of you who love the sound but aren't too up on it too fierce. Dope slice of the old style. Gutter. Turnt. Go in.

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Terror Danjah Showcases the Strength of the Grime Scene in New Solid Steel Mix

Trying to understand how powerful the grime scene is in 2016? Interested in how it compares to the dancehall riddim scene? Listen to the first four minutes of Terror Danjah's new set for Solid Steel. Dope to hear heads going in on that "Juicy Patty" riddim, and after that it's just tune fi tune fi tune. Slew dem, then cop Terror Danjah's new single; it's well wicked.

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