Shystie, Deekline, Assault

[koganbot]

Please tell me about:

Shystie
DJ Deekline
DJ Assault

The DJ Deekline mix of Shystie's "New Style" is my track of the year so far, though I gather that earlier versions of the track have been kicking around for a while. Shystie got drowned out on a mediocre track back on the Run The Road compilation, and that was all I knew about her, but now I want to know everything. I gather that Deekline has been getting attention since the early '90s, and I ran across the excellent Stanton Warriors Mix of "Handz Up" recently. (Sorry U.K. residents, those are both YouTube links, though if they don't work, you can try this imeem for "Handz Up," and the Shystie video which is YouTube but from a non-"premium" user.)

My knowledge of DJ Assault is confined entirely to what's on these two links, and the four tracks or so I've heard of his:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/DJ+Assault

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dj_assault

Detroit "ghettotech" guy, most of his stuff released second half of '90s, first half of '00s.

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Shystie = little known outside grime circles (or at least people who pay attention to the output of Channel U), unlike say, Lady Sov or Stush. However if you asked me to name five female grime MCs she would definitely be included in my list. Also she is probably slightly more well known by the Kids With Phones On The Back Of The Bus demographic.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

(am totally willing to be corrected on any of these obv - I am no expert in any of them!)

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Kids With Phones On The Back Of The Bus

This is basically my key demo for finding new music these days!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

They play music out loud through their phones, it sounds v tinny and provokes much middle class ire in London. (I love them.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

She's definitely more known than Stush, and was better known than Lady Sov first! She was one of the first grime MCs to get a major label deal and an album out, was cast as the "female Dizzee" when grime was still really young (ie, I was still in Cardiff - Sov on the other hand didn't come close to blowing up until way after I'd moved to London) and even scored a top 40 hit off it. Her profile declined after that cuz no one, either in the scene or the mainstream, thought the album was any good at all. (I think it's OK, suffered from the standard set by Boy In Da Corner but no worse than most other inconsistent 'urban' albums and loads better than the crossover shite people are coming with now.)

I also did a potted history of Shystie here already with youtube links &c, ahem ahem.

As for DJ Assault, I should know much more about him...I've seen him live though, it was BANGING. One of my DJ friends absolutely idolises him.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I can totally believe that Shystie is more massive in the grime/garage scene - but from what I can see I don't think she's made anywhere near as much of an impact in the pop world as Sov has, and hasn't really had the high profile (ie outside the grime-sphere) guest spots that Stush has had in the last year. Hopefully this will change v soon - she's awesome.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Oh, Sov is definitely more well known now, I was just saying that Shystie preceded her by a couple of years! I don't think of Sov as a grime MC any more though. As for Stush, I guess now she's got a bigger profile, but at this point everyone does given that Shystie fell off the map completely - but Shystie had a major label album, a top 40 single, numerous solo cuts and a lot of mainstream press attention at her peak, whereas to date Stush has had...one solo (non-hit) single of note? A couple of guest spots on street singles? Not really comparable...