Estelle and Kardinal have come through with a new track “Freak”, check it out.

It’s always a good time for this one. Check the video below, Live From London, 2003…

…via The Smoking Section.

As Melanie’s last installment to her Subway Series, Melanie Fiona hits the streets of London to perform with the band Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. If Hypnotic looks/sounds familiar to you maybe you’ve heard them before jammin in Union Sq or Times Sq in NYC. In any case check Melanie perform “Ayyo” and “Walk On By”.

With the Carnival season wrapping it up, now is the perfect time for a film like this. I’d really love to see something similar for the goings on here in NYC, and in other regions. Check out the info below…

Grammy Award winner Don Letts tells the incredible story of Europe’s biggest street party – the Notting Hill Carnival. Wonderful interviews, unseen archive and an amazing soundtrack combine to chart the history of this celebration of multicultural London!

Starting out in 1959 as a response to the worst racial violence the streets of London has ever seen, Carnival began when over a hundred Caribbean Londoners came together, using music and dance in a show of harmony. Half a century later and this multicultural celebration of diversity attracts over a million people to London every year!

A balanced mix of reality and history, the film captivates young and old, black and white, with unseen archive, an amazing soundtrack and wonderful interviews with Sir Trevor McDonald, Paul Simonon of The Clash, Miquita Oliver, Norman Jay and Jazzie B.

Check out the trailer below…

For more info on the film, check Seen’s article, the film’s offical site or watch online at Electric Sky TV.

The London Evening Standard has put together a great recap of the goings-on at this year’s Notting Hill Carnival in London.

Check out the full gallery here: The London Evening Standard: Notting Hill Carnival 2009.

Estelle switched up her steez on this track by rhyming, its kinda Lauren Hill-esque of her…

Download

Since I posted the audio for this one not too long ago, it’s only right that I bring you the video. Check it out below…

Image via Pascal Kerouche on Flickr. Video via RapRadar.

Kardi recently sat down with DJ Semtex over in the UK to discuss the hip-hop scene over there…check it out below…

HipHop Mastermind is where I put your favourite rapper on the spot about a subject they should know about.

Kardinal Offishall is always back on forth from the UK, so I put him to the test, to see how much he really knows about the UK scene. It’s pretty funny.

The folks from BBC 1Xtra recently put up a nice little podcast on the history of sound systems in the UK. A lot of the history also applies in the US, so it’s a really interesting listen. Check out the audio below…

Without soundsystems we might not have reggae, hip-hop, soul, dancehall, drum & bass, garage or grime…

Click here for more info.

image via vecchiosettore1993 on Flickr.

Do you know the name Claudia Jones? I didn’t until I saw this feature on the life of “mother of the Notting Hill Carnival,” commemerating the 50th anniversary of the London Carnival. Check it out, it’s a good read.

Read the full feature here.

Also, good to see that almost 50 years after her death, Britain’s Royal Mail announced that it would commemorate Jones with a special postage stamp. Check out the stamp after the jump…

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