City Kingz 003
Various Artists

A Belgian compilation by the name City Kingz did arrive to the ART12 editorial office, aka the 931, a few,… what can I say, months ago. The reviews becomes stacked high but ya have so much other important things to do. Like school? But, a very nice thing of music is that you can hear it when you want, so this album I did listen many times. It’s album in English and French, a compilation of various Belgian artists. It’s a project of ARTWARE Inner City Culture and Kinky Star Records, both situated in Gent, Belgium.

City Kingz gives you a view on the Belgian HipHop movement as it seen by the most skilled DJs and producers in this little nation. CK is a range of different styles of making HipHop. Old- and New School, are mixed together and many signatures samples are used. Flagrant Delit bears the brunt with a fast French rhyme by MC M’pro from the capital city, Brussels.

The beat of ‘The Conquest’ is made by Gus, Krewcial's DJ and mixed by DJ Prime. A nice combination that delivered a nice production, together with the other members of Bedroom Recordings: MC Stan and Flip. ‘Tables Turn, Faders Burn’ is a good name of this track, produced by Killa Tactics. A 3-dj crew, who have released a few mix tapes since 1996, show there skills on this nice piece of work. Killa Tactics have been finalists in the DMC and ITF. And are involved in the Zulu Nation. And are Rulers of the School Of Hardknocks. They took the grand on the 2nd Edition. You should think only the beats are all that, but even the rhymes must be heard. ‘CK One’ is a dope track with nice scratches and a violin sample in it, where Troubleman, Dors and DJ Flip tell their stories about back in the days:

Afterhours comes with a track ‘Sign Zee Paperz’ featuring the bass player Sam Even funky as Afterhours are the scratches of Daddy K. Another crew from Brussels is King Size. They have already produced 2 maxi albums and coming on City Kings 003 with a thack called ‘4x4’ featuring Billy Lo who is responsible for the synthesized beats. Nice track but a little slow… Marya, Lady N and Princess B bring the chances in the tempo. These three ‘City Queens’ are blasting their rhymes on the French and Italian way. AQ: "They're blasting that whole CD! Man can't understand a fuck they are saying but they are flowing like the Maas."

Peanut have used a nice sample on the beginning of ‘Exceptional Breed’. How to explain? A kind of a flowing guitar and a female singer are mixed together. Hmm, just listen. Peanut aka NBM lives in Gent and has his roots in Zaire. He produces his own beats, lyrics and mixes. He is well-known for his mix tapes but this is his first production on a record.

Prophet/KO Productions is an independent label. The lyrics of ‘Au Bord De La Foi’ are written by OHK and L’Allea featuring Templ’a Prophet. That’s a hole mouth full, never heard of them but they sounds good to me. A dark beat and voice with a singing chorus. Nice combination. Onde De Choc examines heads on ‘B-boy Officiel’, and presents certificates on a 6 minutes track with a guitar jam session of Michel Vaillant.

On the vinyl version of this album City Kingz 003 are two more tracks. We only got the CD version so ya must check those two by yourself, if you are interested in a quality production of combining different stylees of Belgian HipHop. Even when you can’t understand a –thing- of the French language, this album is a suggest to check out.

A point that’s keep me thinking is why Belgian talented artists lapped up by France. You can produce easier in Holland, isn’t it? (French artists as DJ Cutkiller produced in Holland.) Well, my mistake. France is x times bigger than The Flatlands. And French is the third world wide international language. Half of Africa speaks it. No wonder that France is the second largest HipHop market. Even beats Japan and Germany.

More info: www.kinkystar.com www.artware-icc.be
Words to: kinky.star@planetinternet.be

Herbz