WICKED FOODS AND WICKED MOODS

Yooooo we back, we back. I didn't realise how long it's been since I did a diary post! Nearly two weeks. Let's go

I love how much young asian people love technology. Imagine how amerced in it their culture must be given how saturated ours is and we don't love it nearly as much as they do. Young asian people taking photos of everything on their iphones.

Checked out that new(ish) Turkish meze place on Braunstone gate the other day with Tom. It's pretty good, no Istanbul though. They do serve beer though, so good news for all you guys who like a pint with dinner.

I went to my Aunties house for a party the next day. It was my cousins girlfriends birthday party. Kerrie is a vegetarian, so most of the food was vegetarian. My auntie Sue come through with the vegetable curry, real real stuff for everyone. It was so nice, I took so much away.

My Auntie Mel did this bit of pork that had been cooked in cider and the top had been covered in a honey glaze. Jesus, it was so soft. I can't image seeing this and choosing to not eat meat. Ethics gone, everything gone.

Did you see that article Leicester Mercury published about places with 0 food hygiene ratings? Peri Peri Narborough road was on there. They've got an open kitchen that looks pretty clean, and they've not been shut down. Plus I ate there 3/4 times a week at one point in my life. I can only assume that you can instantly get awarded a 0 food hygiene rating if they find (for example) meat out of cold storage or something. Where as I can imagine these Peri guys getting the chicken out ready, knowing they'll get through X amounts of breasts before they close. Either way, me and Max rolled the next day as a show of solidarity.

RELAX MATE. Will these kind of sun glasses never not be hilarious?

Still the leader of the new school.

Imagine leading the sort of life where you had to pretend to be into this shit. Even the fucking packaging makes them look as bland as possible. despite being into keeping fit and working out and whatever I'm so glad I don't force myself to choke down stuff like this. A 6 pack would be nice, but a 6 pack of Snickers bars is undoubtably nicer.

EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. Look at this fucking dumb dumbs basket. Loose fruit, alcohol, more than a few bits. Taking the piss out of my life. Why the fuck did she think she would queue up for the self service? The store was rammed and the other check out assistants were busy too, so every time she fucked up it took ages for someone to come over and correct her mistakes. I swear we need licenses for these fucking machines.

She left her receipt, I obviously took a photo for your viewing pleasure. What made her think, with this basket that she would use this checkout? Honestly it makes me so mad, man. Double scanning items and shit. Fuck meeeeeee. YOU SHOULDN'T BE BUYING SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER IN A TESCO EXPRESS

ANYWAY! That night I made fajitas, and I had loads of stuff left over. The next day for lunch I made some toasted sandwiches with all the lovely bits inside. These were seriously so so good.

It's always a ramping ting when I'm around Lenny. Nah, shout to him though. The only cat that knows not to fucking touch me.

My sisters and Mum had never seen the Miguel leg drop video before the other night. Me and Curtis sat there dyyyinnggg at their reaction as they watched it for the first time haha.

Heeeeey! The day after Leicesters 5-3 thumping of Manchester United I saw Leonardo Ulloa in town! Had to get a photo with him, I felt kind of star struck haha. He was so tall in real life, quite a presence.

This shit is infuriating me at the minute. This guy is playing jazz flute with a backing track. You know how obnoxious that is? Who the fuck even likes that fucking sound? What is going through his head? Even with fucking in ear headphones I still can't drown out the sound of this cunt.

So rude man, in any other instance if you force something upon someone senses it's considered rude and evasive, but as soon as you're in the street playing music loudly everyone is just fine with it. This shit needs to stop.

Cillar had a wicked flat party the other night in her third year house. We were all going back to back on her laptop playing music off it. It was good fun!

I went to see T Pain with Brad at Republic last night. I didn't really know what to expect. I never do when these huge American artists do club PAs. He did a 45 minute set of all his classics and loads of covers and whatever, just having loads of fun. I forgot how many bangers he has, or has featured on. I've been listening to Rappa Ternt Sanga his first album loads recently so I really enjoyed it. He looked like he was having fun on stage, dancing around and whatever, it was pretty good.

BU BU BAAAANG THAT'S HOW WE WICKEDLAND! See you again soon no doubt, thanks for popping by. Feel free to leave a comment at the side in the new comment box!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: ROCK IN DINER

Last Saturday night me and Max went along to check out that new American diner on Narborough road called 'Rock In Diner.' From the outside it looked like they'd really spend some time and money doing the place up, and it was of course the plot that was the ever so successful Al's diner back in the 90s/early 00s. Here's my review.

NAME: ROCK IN DINER

LOCATION: 2 SAXON STREET (OFF NARBOROUGH ROAD), LEICESTER LE3 0BL.

ATMOSPHERE: It's a pretty small, intimate plot and kind of because of that it had a really good feel for it. It's still pretty new and it felt like the buzz hadn't worn off. Everyone was happy to be there and checking it out. A couple of dates, a few asian families and some grebs made up the client base and classic American music (The Beach Boys and Sam Cooke among others) pumped out of a free jukebox you could pick music off. The staff were al really friendly and it was genrally a good vibe. Me and Max hung around for a little while after eating and I guess that's always a good sign. 9/10

The drinks range was what you would typically expect from an american place.

DECOR: The decor was amazing, this is where they had really pulled it out of the bag. From the classic neon lights outside to the checkerboard diner floor to the red leather booths it really looked the part. Little details were so on point like the little red baskets they served fries in and the little memorabilia they had up on the ways. They have spared no expense here and it really looked the part. 10/10

FOOD: The food was pretty good too! They had a real wide range on the menu, so I guess you can kind of get whatever you want. The fires were good with a little cajun spice on them, the burgers were really good and they all had pretty nice ingredients in. Max had Nachos with salsa, jalapeños and cheese and a mexican chicken burger meal, I had a nacho burger (similar to Maxs nanchos but in a bun with a quarter pounder) and some onion rings on the side. When I asked for some nancho cheese on my fries they obliged free of charge which was nice. Meals came with a side (think KFC sides) and a drink. 8/10

SERVICE: The guys were fantastic. From repeating your order back to you after putting it in (A little thing that I always like) to obliging with our little extra bits to popping over 2 warmed wet towels when we had almost finished you could see that this business meant a lot to the guys who were working there. We collared the main bloke, told him we had really enjoyed our meal and the diner and he told us it was 10 years in the making. You could tell they were obviously proud of it and have got off on the right food in terms of keeping the service standards high. My one criticism would be that our food took a little while to come out, so don't visit if you're in a rush. We were probably waiting 20 minutes, but with the nice music and settings it wasn't such a bad thing. 8/10 

PRICE: The price was a great sell too, as I'm sure you can see from the menu. I was absolutely stuffed and spent £7.50ish on a burger, onion rings, fries, beans and two drinks whilst Max spend £8.50ish on a burger, nanchos, fries, beans and two drinks. You can't moan at that, it's legit the same prices as a big boy McDonalds and we could see from the kitchen it's all cooked from scratch to order. Nose over the menu, You'll see right the way through it's all kept low. Even the milkshakes and deserts are do-able and you'd be looking at around a tenner all in. 9/10

You could pick songs for free off an all american playlisted Jukebox

CONCLUSION: We were both really impressed with this place, I'm kind of annoyed it's moved in a couple of years after I've moved out of the area. If I was still around this way it could be a weekly visit situation. For the price of a McDonalds it's so worth it and the actual place itself had a really nice vibe. Narborough road tend to struggle with change and don't really take to new things, but with the huge asian community around that area (that tend to love american food places) hopefully it'll be a success. Look at Instanbul and the other Turkish meze places, they've really settled in well. If our night there was anything to go by then I've got a feeling it's going to stick around. At half the price and with better food and service, the near by Tinsletown could be in big trouble with this new competition just down the road. Fantastic.

FINAL MARK: 44/50

THE GRIME SCENES EVER FADING IDENTITY

Grime's embarrassing isn't it. I'm tired of watching the big names in the scene sell their soul for promotion or a pay day. News recently emerged that for the first time there will be a stand alone 'Best Grime' category at this years MOBO (Music of Black Origin) award ceremony which will take place on the 22nd of October, and despite years of protest from the scene, they're all jumping back on board the MOBO bandwagon.

Grime and the MOBOs have always had a strained relationship. For years grime wasn't recognised at all, and despite being a credible underground music genre within the UK urban scene it was cast out. In 2010, after years of protest and dismay from the grime scene the MOBOs opened up their 'Best Hip Hop' award to house grime and renamed it 'Best Hip Hop/Grime.' Naturally, they still favoured their mainstream pop artists as Plan B and Tinie Tempah have took the awards every year since. Plan B won their 'Best Hip Hop/Grime' award for his work in 2012, the year he released The Defamation of Strickland Banks. Let that sink in. Their half arsed attempt at shushing the ever growing grime scenes cries and protests were extremely thinly veiled and this didn't go unnoticed.




So how did they combat it? In 2012 they invited Wiley and Skepta, two veterans of the grime scene (rich in support from their fans and counterparts) to perform their summer pop hit 'Can You Hear Me - Ayaya' live on stage. They performed the song. Fun, popular music but by no stretch grime music. This kept everyone quiet for a little while. After all; if Wiley and Skeps are performing at the MOBOs surely they're taking grime seriously.

It's not only the grime scene that has took time to question the MOBOs integrity and undoubtable commercialisation over the years. Not only is the concept in itself largely racist and uninformed (critic Niall Crowley highlights the inherent inaccuracies in the term "black music", noting the significant Jewish influences on rhythm and blues and rock n roll) they are constantly blurring lines and awarding awards to artist who do not perform music within their categories of nomination. Wiley and Skepta went and performed what is effectively a 4-to-the-floor house-esque pop song with clear influence from the Eastern European dance music scene. How many black Russians have you ever met?
































Throwing a best male MOBO at grimes self proclaimed 'Godfather' Wiley in 2013 didn't do much to distract the fact grime was still not being taken seriously. Although, out of respect nobody within the scene would ever chime up, grime fans are coming to terms that we've ultimately lost Wiley. This is nothing new. After an onslaught of dreadful clubby pop songs by a Wiley desperately jealous of Dizzee Rascals fame, real time old grime fans know that the only connection Wiley has left with the grime scene is one of nostalgia. A thing of the past. Watching goals on YouTube from a striker that left your club years ago for La Ligas fortune. The scene grew restless again and expressed in no uncertain terms that they were unhappy with how they were being treated at the MOBOs.

Fast forward to 2014. Merdian Dan storms the charts with German Whip reaching #13. Huge support from the whole scene backed the single with a massive pre release campaign encouraging fans new and old to pre order on itunes. And it worked. The original and a glossier, reshot video combine to collect way over 6 million YouTube views and Grime charted for the first time since the original 'Pow' by Lethal B back in 2004. A victory for grime music right?



Wrong. Listen to the single. Veteran grime fans will tell you this isn't grime. It doesn't even really sound like grime. It's a trap single with what was once a grime MC vocalling it. Sure, it's at grime tempo and JME and Big H (two old time Meridan crew members) feature but this music is simply not grime music. For good or bad, that is not the point. This was not grime music charting and being accepted by the massive. A largely American influenced song being Radio 1 playlisted and receiving daytime plays isn't a success for grime music, regardless of who is on it. When Grime MCs take to other genres it has always been well received by the mainstream. If we are celebrating German Whip as a win, why not celebrate Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris's 2009 smash hit 'Holiday' too?

The sad thing is through all of this there was a resurrected sense of empowerment and community in the grime scene. One of the scenes most powerful figures decided to take it back to basics. Skepta's 'That's Not Me' excited me in ways the scene hadn't for years. It was a throwback. A love letter to the good old days. Skepta shown everyone in the scene that if someone as powerful and well known as he is can make real, authentic grime, with all it's imperfections and eccentricities, then you can too. We've got their ear now, let's use it to show them our sound. The original 'street version' video (embedded) and the studio version videos combined to around 1.5 million views. Obviously still a large number, but not by Skepta's previous standards. That's Not Me debuted at #21 and quickly faded into the history books. This was the real success for actual, authentic grime music, but went largely unsung after a huge campaign for German Whip. Skepta doing what he does again. Things resumed as normal on Monday.




So what does the grime scene do after Skepta's courageous step back in time? Continue to fall in line and speak when spoken to. 1xtra invite their usual 'grime' friends P Money and Ghetts, to take part in Charlie Sloth's Fire In The Booth cypher with a bunch of other UK MCs from various scenes. They spit over more American beats just happy for the publicity and the payday. SBTV put out a remix of a trap tune at around 140bpm with a host of all stars from the grime scene guesting, Skepta included. The words 'All Star remix' used to hold some sense of integrity, now they are simply a pathway for finding out which members of the grime scene have sold their souls this week. It's clearly not just me who thinks this.

And so news broke today that the MOBOs have finally awarded grime their own award. Big Narstie, Ghetts, JME, Lethal Bizzle, Meridian Dan, Skepta and Wiley are all amongst the nominees. This is being paraded around like a huge success and a victory for the grime scene. At long last the MOBOs are taking our scene seriously, and all the old voices that used to berate and discredit the MOBOs are back onboard, of course supporting the scene they love and hold so dearly.

It's tiring following a scene so fickle, frankly. Happy to completely sell out for a payday. Happy to compromise exactly what grime is about for a posh night out at an award ceremony. For me, grime is a huge part of my identity and everything I stand for. It's my own punk rock. An acquired taste that never cared much for what outsiders thought. I'll proudly wear it like a badge but the thing I love more than anything on earth is being watered down constantly. Killed from the inside, out. I've been to see live music of all genres all over the country my whole life. Few moments compare to D Double E of the Newham Generals spitting his Birds In The Sky lyrics in Niche, Sheffield 2009. A room crammed with real fans went wild. Girls were running from a dancefloor that had turned into a moshpit. This was not music for girls. Drinks everywhere, gun fingers high in the air. That's what grime is about, any real fan or supporter will tell you that. Not Wiley pissing about on a quad in Ibiza hoping that 1Xtra will play his new single.

Since Dizzee Rascal graduated and went on to super stardom it seems like that's the goal everyone has got their eyes on. Wiley, Dizzee and Roll Deep have all had number 1 chart success and gone onto huge things, so why would that not be the aim? 17 year olds in East London 10 years ago wouldn't be thinking of grime as a career, or for the money and that made for the best grime music. It's like it's ok for 1xtra to continue to water down our scene as long as they're paying, be it in promo or money.

Likewise for the MOBOs. It's took grime MCs spitting over rap and trap beats for their own personal profiles to get big enough to be warranted a category of their own. German Whip has surely been the biggest UK urban anthem of the calendar year and everyone has been tricked into thinking it's grime. The MCs nominated are not being celebrated for their contribution to grime music. Far from it, but they'll throw in a couple of promising youngers (namely Stormzy and Novelist) to throw us off the scent.

It strikes me that the vast majority of people inside the scene would rather see their friends and peers make successes of themselves than the actual grime scene and sound be pushed forward. We've seen this with the support that Dizzee Rascal, Chipmunk, Tinie Tempah, Wretch 32, Tynchy Stryder, Roll Deep and a host of other graduates from the grime scene have had. None of the above made their fame and fortune from grime music, but rather used it as a platform to go onto bigger and better things. Talk is cheap, and for a scene so dedicated to screaming about who they are and where they come from they all seem to forget all that anytime the mainstream come knocking. Mark my words, come October 22nd everyone will get dressed up for the MOBOs, Jammer will tag along and all that has gone between the MOBOs and the grime scene will be forgotten.

This could be the final nail in the coffin lid of grime music, regardless wether they still choose to throw the name around or not.

NEW PODCAST - 061 - TOO CLEVER FOR HIS OWN GOOD

Another tag team match the week as me and Brad discuss leaked photos, Leicester's drubbing of Manchester Utd, Scotland voting NO to independence, a woman with 3 tits, an on air quitter, a guy who loves Smash mash potato and chopsticks. All on this weeks WickedLand podcast

CROATIAN GRAFFITI

Collected from around the Outlook site and just into Pula, Croatia. Here are a few bits that caught my eye.