The West Yorkshire hip-hop scene has always been a shadowy figure compared to other Uk County’s, lurking in the darkness, occasionally spewing a heavy weight release. If there is any Collective set to shift the balance and affirmatively stomp West Yorkshire (specifically Leeds) onto our maps it has to be The Defenders of Style.
Consisting of Four Emcee’s Jack Danz, Disgust, Prys and Joe snow with Dj Sirplus completing the team on turntables. These guys don’t fuck around and their latest release Dirty Sterling is a 14-track bag full of Swag.
Jack Danz took full control on production laying an entourage of Dark Boom bap attitude, its clear what direction the production has taken, straight up old school neck cracking Shit!! The One with Jack Flash on it” stuck in my head for its hypnotic vocal loops and trapped piano rifts.
Each emcee takes every track to new heights and extremes shifting between clever lyrical twists such as “Brain Child” to tracks focusing on deliverance styles, using the West Yorkshire accent to interlace production with early hip hop styled sprays. Check “419” or “Static Pirate” for examples.
This album screams out to the die hard hip hop ear holes out there, its been a while since I’ve heard an album fully dedicated to the old school and its such a welcome slap in the face. With features from Jack Flash, Deeflux, Wisdom and Minus & Phoenix (Fly Tippers) to name just a few makes this a Dope album which has definitely been cooked up and served with large sides ………..BIG!
Review By Rikki James, email him with your music, banter, questions here
