Sunday 16 November 2008

"It's 2000 And Nasty"

I had a crisis of confidence earlier today. What do I do for the scene? It's not enough to be a fan these days you know. I vainly searched for an answer against the backdrop of Nasty Jack, Stormin and Meshack Nasty on Axe FM.

The set is no-nonsense, with Jack spitting about being the "Hackney Kid" and bringing back welcome memories of the Sidewinder clash. Thinking that no-one goes to radio these days, I remembered quite quickly afterwards that Nasty Jack has a mixtape dropping on 1 December, entitled Shotta Music. Logan Sama is hosting the CD, probably because NJ has made a couple of spectacular dubs for the man in question.



Hosting a CD is a thankless task really, because it's not going to drastically improve the final product yet still maintains a massive scope for pissing off the listeners. Nevertheless, Nasty Jack has found a niche for himself within the last year and his new style tunes seem to be creating demand, so I look forward to hearing it.

A radio appearance to promote Shotta Music seems a bit cynical given that Nasty Crew are attempting some sort of revival at the minute. Griminal and Little Nasty firmly stuck to the Nasty name despite it being a shadow of its glorious past, and the brothers have done enough to get it into a position where something more substantial can be established. Crews are arguably not in trend at this moment in time, but Nasty is an exception.

Things look quite promising at the moment, with solo material being released and MCs going to radio. DJ Spyro presided over a great set recently with Little Nasty, Griminal, Stormin, Badness and Sharkey Major. Yep; Sharkey Major, resurrecting like a grimey Lazarus back onto the airwaves with Jesus nowhere to be seen. Something is happening, surely?

The original line-up is firmly consigned to the past, but time moves on. Emerging talent is apparent in the likes of Younga and DJ Meshack Nasty, and Stormin's words on the Axe set said a lot: "no old bars allowed". It's the best policy and, despite their heritage, and a heritage that includes Marcus Nasty and Stormin's appearances on Big Brother's Big Mouth, relying on past success won't achieve things in the future. All the same, it says so much that their past firmly informs their status now.

For the nostalgic fans that have been living under rocks for the last 6 months, Nasty sets are up for download on grimetapes.com.

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1 comment:

Laintsurge said...

"Oi Jack, I told you. You can't bring Nasty back, you can't bring sharkey back, you can't bring me back".