MATTHEW HAWKINS applauds a psychotherapist’s disection of William Blake
Rapping at the door of the British class system
ADAM DE PAOR-EVANS remembers MC Duke: a pioneering British rapper more people should know about
MC Duke was also acutely aware of the power of image. After
working extensively with young UK photographer Normski, the pair
came up with ORGANISED RHYME's timeless concept Duke dressed
up to the nines as landed gentry, a look later copied wholesale by
British boxer Chris Eubank.
New releases from Christina Alden and Alex Patterson, Odette Michell, Clementine Lovell
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet
GORDON PARSONS acknowledges the authority with which Sarah Kane’s theatrical justification for suicide has resonance today
RON JACOBS welcomes a timely homage to one of the IWW and CPUSA’s most effective orators
MC Duke (Kashif Adham) was a key figure in the development of hip-hop in Britain in the late 80s. When he died in April, British rap lost a giant. From the East End of London, Duke strengthened the evolution of the genre in the UK by relating directly to US hip-hop and an emerging British rap identity through his lyrics and visual style.
At the time of MC Duke’s arrival on the rap scene, British hip-hop was transitioning from the electro-based sound by London artists such as DSM, Three Wize Men and Family Quest, to a more sample-based style, much like the sounds of US artists Eric B. and Rakim and Biz Markie.
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