DJ Cable featuring Ghostly “In ‘Ere” (Triangulum Recordings): Dexplicit featuring Chip, Durrty Goodz, Swiss, Black The Ripper, Flowdan and Rocks FOE “Link Up Season” (DXP Music): Commodo featuring Rocks FOE “Set It Straight” (Black Acre): Pinch featuring Riko Dan “Screamer” (Tectonic): Chase & Status featuring Novelist “NRG” (Mercury)


Yes, ‘featuring’ is the new ‘x' is the new ‘vs.’ is the new ‘featuring’.

“In ‘Ere” is as much a certified BANGER as any stock car or sizzling sausage, and quite possibly – epically delayed 7”s aside – our favourite single of 2016 to date: West London teenager Ghostly boasts panache aplenty and his adroit & cheeky spraygun bars on this exquisite freestyle have more than a soupçon of a young Durrty Goodz about them. Triangulum’s own hostest with the mostest, DJ Cable is on hand to provide the effortlessly effervescent riddims, which suit G to a tee. *Primary* rhyming.

We’ve also been hurling ourselves about the kitchen in a tizzy to “Link Up Season” (watch out for that knife rack, Eugene): by their very nature, few posse cuts can match the best MCs drilling out 96 bars solo, but Dex was the real driving force behind the daddy of all grime posse cuts, “Pow!” (dig out those “Forward” and “Backwards” white labels now and go mental) and as well as dishing up this new track in a frankly not dissimilar-style he’s recruited a phalanx of London MCs to toast it: Goodz and Flowdan predictably boss things totally, but Black the Ripper’s amiable outlaw schtick, and a rousing last verse from Croydon’s rising star Rocks FOE, are well worth the entrance fee too. Especially when the entrance fee is no more than 79p, if you’re doing it legit.

And Rocks then er, rocks up on distinguished dubstep-head Commodo’s “Set It Straight” single too, lacing its vaguely oriental stylings with a righteous, frothing fury.

As we shift to d-step territory, a shout-out next for “Screamer”, on which old pals Pinch and Riko Dan reunite for a follow-up to their genuinely mighty “Big Slug“ 12” with Mumdance, and Riko resumes his life’s work of an all-consuming diatribe against yr local neighbourhood informant.

Lastly, “NRG” is something else again, the sound of an intriguing timewarp by which C&S hit us with some very Junkie XL-circa ‘98 floor-messing, and the ever-ascending star of Lewisham, Novelist steams in with the vocals. It can’t match the chemistry that Nov has with Mumdance (we’re beginning to suspect that “Take Time” and “1 Sec” may remain the former’s calling cards for some time), but it’s a blast all the same.

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