Features – Will Garnett

Feature: Top 10 Music-Related Things to Watch During Lockdown, pt. 2

October 23, 2020April 22, 2021Posted in Features, JournalismTagged (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, A Thousand Suns, Alicia Keys, Alternative, Behemoth, Big Night Out, Britpop, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Discover, Disney+, Dutch Hardcore, DVD, Experimental Rock, Extreme Metal, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Grime, GRM Daily, Hamilton, hip-hop, IDLES, KEXP, Linkin Park, Live At Home, Live In The K! Pit, Live Music, Lockdown, Los Cogelones, Maida Vale, Metal, Mexico, Music, Music Documentary, Music Feature, Music Journalism, Musical, Musicians, New Music, Noisey, NPR, NPR Tiny Desk Concert, Nu-Metal, Oasis, Poland, Polish Metal, Punk, Punk Rock, Quarantine Watches, R&B, Return To Rockfield, Rock, Theatre, Together We Rise, Ultra Mono1 Comment

Back in May when I wrote the first part to this I wouldn’t have believed that I would be writing a second part several months later. Time is a weird thing, and amiss of any live music, festivals and any significant trips away, apart from visiting the Motherland for a few weeks, the months have rolled into one and gone by in a blur. I’ve learnt to accept the situation and know that I cannot control what will happen, counting my blessings each day that the people close to me are safe, and that I’ve not lost anyone during this time. Having worked in music and live events since University, their absence has been hard to come to terms with, and with the Goverment response to this, asking people like myself to retrain, has been somewhat anger-inducing, to say the least. Finally we are now seeing some socially distanced shows happening, and being able to mark them into the diary. It’s great to see a venue that I’ve worked at for the past few years, The O2 Arena, having their first show back on the 5th of December.

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Origins of European Hip-Hop: Deutscher Hip-Hop

October 1, 2020April 22, 2021Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Advanced Chemistry, American, Beat Street, Berlin, Berlin Wall, Bombastic Records, British, Cartel, Da Crime Posse, Deutscher Hip-Hop, Die Fantastischen Vier, Erci E, European Hip-Hop, Feature, France, French, FRG, G.L.S United, GDR, German Hip-Hop, Germany, hip-hop, Italy, Journalism, Karaken, Krauts with Attitude, Music, Music Feature, Music Journalism, Origins, Origins of European Hip-Hop, Pioneers, Pioneers of German Hip-Hop, Rap, Rappers Duetsch, Second World War, Soviet Union, Turkey, Turkish Hip-Hop, Wild Style3 Comments

Next up in my series ‘Origins of European Hip-Hop’, I’ll take a look at a fragmented and divided hip-hop scene in Germany. Whilst in both France and Italy artists had ideological differences, and both scenes had significant political impacts, no scene in Europe had the kind of political backdrop and contrast of musicians than that in Germany. From Nationalist movements to Turkish rebellion, this post will piece together the development of hip-hop in a country still feeling the effects of the Second World War.

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Origins of European Hip-Hop: Rap Italiano

August 21, 2020April 22, 2021Posted in Features, JournalismTagged 1991, 99 Posse, Almamegretta, Articolo 31, Blog, Centri Sociali, Devastatin Posse, Discover, European Hip-Hop, Fabri Fibra, Fight da Faida, Forte Prenestino, Frankie Hi-NRG, hip-hop, Isola Posse All Stars, Italian Hip-Hop, Italian Rap, Italy, Journalism, Jovanotti, Leoncavallo, Lorenzo, Macchia Nera, Marche, Milan, Music, Music Feature, Naples, Napoli, Nuovi Briganti, Officina 99, Pioneers of Italian Rap, Pisa, Rap, Rap Italiano, Roma, Rome, Social Centres, Stop Al Panico!, Sud Sound System, Wordpress3 Comments

As I continue to take a look back at the dissertation I wrote a few years ago on the developement and impact of hip-hop in Europe, I now move onto my second country, Italy. In the last post I looked into Francophone Rap, a budding hip-hop scene in France, which produced artists such as MC Solaar and IAM, and the film ‘La Haine’. Not too far away though in the Southern regions of Europe, an entirely different hip-hop scene was beginning to emerge, one that would have a big political impact.

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Origins of European Hip-Hop: Francophone Rap

July 13, 2020August 17, 2020Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Africa Bambaataa, Alternative, Assasin, Boogie Down Productions, Bouge De La, Caroline, Chacun Fait (C'Qui Lui Plait), Chagrin d'Amour, De La Planete Mars, Dissertation, European Hip Hop, France, Francophone Rap, Hip Hop, IAM, Introduction, Italy, Jazz Rap, Je Danse Le Mia, Journalism, Kurtis Blow, La Haine, L’ecole du micro d’argent, Marseilles, Mathieu Kassovitzin, MC Solaar, Music, NTM, Ombre Est Lumiere, Origins, Paris, Prose Combat, Qui Sème le Vent Récolte le Tempo, University, USA1 Comment

After looking through some of my old work, I stumbled across the disseration that I wrote for my final project at university back in 2016, and decided to give it another read. Lockdown boredom may have reached new heights, and brought me to an educational read which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Perhaps as it brought back the memories of writing it, which with the benefit of time and rose-tinted glasses seemed great, but the sleepless nights and Red Bull driven researching weren’t. Whilst I’ve ditched the Red Bull, and seem to be sleeping fine, going back down memory lane and the same rabbit holes as I orginally had, seem like the perfect distraction to another stressful time, as we are in now. As you may have ascertained from the title of this post, my disseration was about European hip-hop, in particular the development and impact of the genre in France, Italy and Germany during the 1980s and 1990s. In that, I waffled on about Globalisation, Americanisation and the history of hip-hop, but I’ll save you from the academic jargon, and dive right into the various scenes themselves.

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WATCH: FEVER 333 perform a live ‘LONG LIVE THE INNOCENT’ Demonstration

June 4, 2020August 18, 2020Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Alternative, BlackLivesMatter, Demonstration, Fever 333, George Floyd, Journalism, Live Music, Live Show, LONG LIVE THE INNOCENT, Metal, Music, Rock, USA, VideoLeave a comment

Last night, Fever 333 performed a live demonstration to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement, with all proceeds of the livestream going towards the Black Lives Matter and the Minnesota Freedom Fund. Further to the performance, the band shared the below message:

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Feature: My Top 5 Musicians Speaking Out on Racism

June 3, 2020August 18, 2020Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Ahmaud Arbery, Akala, Alternative, America, Audioslave, BlackLivesMatters, BlackoutTuesday, Blues, Crime, Emo, England, Fever 333, George Floyd, Hip Hop, History, J Cole, Jason Aalon Butler, Joey Bada$$, Journalism, Letlive, Live Music, London, Metal, Minneapolis, Music, Musicians, Police, Pressure Cracks, Prophets of Rage, Protest Music, Punk, Racism, Rage Against The Machine, Revolution, Rock, Tom Morello, USA, Video1 Comment

Like many, I’ve been following the news of the shocking and appaling murder of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, by police in Minneapolis, USA. The consequential outrage of his killing has not only sparked protests there, but spread to other cities in the United States too and across the world, with demostrations in Auckland, Berlin, London, and more. George Floyd’s death, and the circumstances surrounding it, is one of many examples of police brutality and racism towards the black community in America. As things began to boil up over the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and Breanna Taylor in Louisevill, and the consequent investigation (or the lack of), things have now boiled over to the point where enough is enough, and things need to change. The worldwide response shows that this sort of racist behaviour isn’t just succluded to America, the insututional day-to-day injustices and the things we don’t see, are happening all over.

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Feature: Top 10 Music-Related Things to Watch During Lockdown

May 20, 2020August 18, 2020Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Alternative, Andrea Bocelli, Astronomical Concert, Concert, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Delta 7, Disabled Not Defeated, Documentary, Duomo di Milano, Emo, England, Everybody's Everything, Film, Five4Five Fest, Foals, Fortnite, Gig, Grunge, History, Italy, Journalism, Kerrang!, Knocked Loose, Korn, Lil Peep, Live Music, Live Stream, Lockdown, London, Metal, Mini-Documentary, Movie, Music, Music For Hope, Netflix, New York Hardcore, Nirvana, Noisey, Pop, Post Malone, Punk, Review, Rock, Show, The Nothing, Travis Scott, USA, Vice, Video, YouTube1 Comment

The current situation with COVID-19 has left the world in lockdown, with venues closed and tours cancelled or postponed, a lot of artists have been forced to find new and innovative ways to stay connected wth their fans, such as live streaming performances from their home, going back through the archives and releasing footage of previous shows, or hosting Q&A’s and listening parties. Like many, I’ve had the extra time on my hands to watch a lot of these performances, and found it interesting to see the various ways in which bands and artists are approaching these difficult times.

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Throwback Series: Outkast, “The South Got Something to Say” – ATLiens, Aquemini and THAT 1995 Source Awards

April 25, 2019August 17, 2020Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Alternative, Andre 3000, Aquemini, ATL, Atlanta, ATLiens, Big Boi, Feature, Hip Hop, History, Jazz, Journalism, Music, OutKast, Source Awards 1995, South, The Source, Throwback, Throwback Series, USA1 Comment

It was August 3rd, 1995. The second annual Source Awards was taking place, at the Madison Square Garden’s Paramount Theater in New York. The events that night would change the course of hip-hop forever. At the time, Tupac had been shot and was sequestered in jail, with a bitter rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast reaching a boiling point. This boiled over at the Awards ceremony, with Suge Knight, of Death Row Records (West Coast), taunting his rival Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs, of Bad Boy Records (East Coast), onstage. The nature of the attack didn’t go down well, and the night descended into a tit-for-tat between the rival areas, with Snoop Dogg confronting the crowd after getting abuse, and Diddy throwing shots back at Suge by saying, “I live in the East, and I’m gonna die in the East.” The rivalry ballooned into violence and ultimately culminated in the deaths of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G, a year later.

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Brit Awards 2019: Round-Up, Highlights, Full List of Winners

February 21, 2019August 17, 2020Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Brit Awards, Brit Awards 2019, Journalism, London, Music, The O2, Winners1 Comment

It was a night of spectacular performances, shock appearances and plenty of important social/political comments, as the annual Brit Awards took place last night at London’s O2 Arena.

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Brit Awards 2019: Nominees, Who’s Performing, Ones to Watch

February 7, 2019February 19, 2019Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Alternative, Blues, Brit Awards, Brit Awards 2019, Dua Lipa, England, Hip Hop, IDLES, Jorja Smith, Journalism, London, Music, Punk, Rock, Stormzy, The O2Leave a comment

The annual Brit Awards takes over The O2, London next Wednesday 20th February, and here’s my lowdown on who’s been nominated and for what, who’s due to be performing on the night, and a look into some of the artists to watch out for, with my pick for each award.

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