OPC (On Point Collective) Interview - mvremix.com

They are two of the safest guys you are likely to encounter rolling up to the stage in Vancouver's hottest underground urban clubs. Their beats will make you "sweat like a sauna..." - quite literally. No, they're aren't the finished product, but the OPC (On Point Collective) are two guys hustling 24/7 the hip hop game in my favourite city (aside from London town), and I'm in full support from this side of the Atlantic. Below is the piece I wrote for MVREMIX - who published my interview with one half of the Collective, Alite; whilst his sidekick, rapper Dagamuffin, was off somewhere knocking up more beats:



The OPC: Hustling Vancouver's Hip Hop Game
You can't start the interview without seeing my son's puzzle," says his wife Rosie.

Alite waits a few more seconds to begin as his five-year-old boy Taiyaz holds up his finished puzzle. The up-and-coming Vancouver born and bred emcee sits beside his biggest fans, and as Rosie, also known as Too Sweet, rolls the camera, we are ready for his first—but certainly not last—interview.

Arif Ali, who goes by the stage name Alite, is one-half of the On Point Collective (OPC) alongside Jean Marc Daga, AKA Dagamuffin. The duo has been in the hip-hop game for more than 10 years, but is just now working on its debut, Brownalistics -The Brown Man's Burden. It is Alite's hope that it will display what a real deal the OPC is.



"This is not a hobby. This is a career," explains Alite. "We want to show we write complex lyrics that you can get wild to. Meaningful shit, good beats and ill lyrics..."

Read the full article here

Anthony Hamilton 'Southern Comfort' Review - mvremix.com

I got to review this soul-fuelled album during my time working as a music journalist in Vancouver for the website www.mvremix.com. I'm still a massive fan of Hamilton, and an even bigger fan of the Canadian city - GO CANUCKS! (hockey, it's not football, but it's f**kin well entertaining):

Anthony Hamilton – Southern Comfort
This is as fresh as soul music can get, delivered by a 36-year-old who has said goodbye to the days of being a minor back-up singer for the likes of 2Pac and D'Angelo. Step up, Anthony Hamilton — today's answer to the much-missed grooves of Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Co.



The platinum artist's third album, Southern Comfort (released on April 3) consists of previously unreleased material written by Hamilton somewhere between 2000 and 2002, when the Charlotte, N.C. born star was still struggling to find his place in the music industry. The result: a stunning culmination of funky beats, soulful love songs, painful honesty and old-school storytelling.



From the first song on the album, "They Don't Know," Hamilton takes a stand against the prejudices that still face today's men, as he sings straight from his Gospel roots: "They don't know about the things I've been going through/And I won't let them get the best of me and my soul." Religious or not, one is compelled to clap their hands to the hallelujah-praise-the-Lord vibe as Hamilton preaches his words supported by catchy trumpets, a bouncy bass line and back-up singers repeating: "Good God almighty!"

Read the full review here