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Molek FMGit Hop
Don’t know your rock from a hard place? In a bid to educate, like an older brother with a motorbike, JUICE imparts The Knowledge. You may not want to but soon you will know the horror that is Git Hop.
So what is Git Hop?
That’s a good question. We’re still trying to get to grips with it as well. It’s one of those slippery genres that’s not quite there. A git is ‘an unpleasant or contemptible person’, you know, that ‘friend’ who can always be guaranteed to leave the bar without offering you a lift home, or who always pockets your change from the mamak. So, after extensive research involving the Freedom of Information Act and Wikipedia, it seems that Git Hop means something different to everyone: some say it’s Mash-Up Joketronica, some say it’s the custard lovechild of Grindie. So, as the arbiters of everything cool, JUICE is going to weigh in, define it and b***ard-well own it.
So we hereby declare that from this day henceforth Git Hop shall be the new term for the leftfield Hip Hop and Electronica that has always come out of England and parts of the US, a scene currently championed by oddballs like Aesop Rock, Boom Bip and the indomitable Kool Keith. Mixing up Rock, Pop and Funk elements with budget beats, all topped off with raps in incomprehensible accents, this kind of Brit hop has never been intelligible to the Yanks. Add in a dash of Grime and it becomes even less likely to make a dent on the NY side of the Atlantic.
Key tracks
‘The State of Things’ – Reverend and the Makers
Plan B’ – ‘Paint It Blacker’
‘Trick For Treat’ – Neon
‘Cheese Rider’ – Wevie Stonder
Scroobius Pip vs Dans Le Sac – ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’
Lethal Bizzle’s ‘Babylon – Burning the Ghetto’
Movers
As it’s more of a banner than a movement, there are a lot of different directions under the Git Hop umbrella. JUICE has corralled some of the trixy little monkeys below
Statik The Grindie founder has his paws in more than a few pies. Few expected his welding of Grime and Indie Rock to be more than a footnote in beat history but as recent records like Lethal Bizzle’s new album Back to Bizznizz have shown, Grindie’s got unexpected legs.
Plan B PB’s debut album Who Needs Actions managed to vex hip hop heads and rock fans alike. But his tour bootleg Paint It Blacker wears its Git-ness with pride, mashing raps with everything from Rolling Stones to Nirvana to Radiohead.
Lethal Bizzle Grime star becomes Git Hop pioneer with Grindie influenced Back to Bizznizz turning classics from The Clash into street anthems for the noughties.
Wevie Stonder A bit like Cassette Boy and The Avalanches before them, Wevie Stonder creates a sonic mash of Beach Boys harmonies and skittering lo-fi beats. Dismissed as Joketronica by some, Wevie Stonder are Git Hop’s satirical shock troops.
Spank Rock UK’s new Hip Hop hopes Spank Rock have a Git Hop calling. Shiny production might make them more palatable to the mainstream but the Spankers have a miserable core that is Git Hop to the max, and have turned up on tracks by Git Hop pioneers Neon.
It wouldn’t have happened without …
MC Pitman. Proving that you don’t need anything more than a beatbox and some half assed raps in a comedy accent about ‘life oop north’, Pitman was an internet anti-hero. For ninety seconds.
Git Hop poster kids
Reverend (of the Makers) He shares a flat with Arctic Monkey Alex Turner and makes Electro-tinged tracks that share the Monkeys dismal world view. Set to be a global star.
How Git Hop changed the world
Git Hop is proudly making the world a grumpier place….
Essential Git Hop albums
The State of Things Reverend and the Makers (Wall of Sound)
This is Grindie Vol 1 Various mixed by Statik (White Label)
Can I Keep This Pen Northern State (Ipecac Recordings)
Romance Ain’t Dead Kid Acne (Lex)
Back to Bizznezz Lethal Bizzle (V2)
Git Hop Math
Pantera + Michael Jackson + Dr Dre = Kid Acne
Stevie Wonder + Mantovani + Mad Libs = Wevie Stonder
Arctic Monkeys + Manu Chao + Public Enemy = Reverend and the Makers
Text Matt Armitage