This year Star.One dropped "Revolver Riddim", an instrumental that's already injecting new levels of life into the grime scene. That may be the production that turned your head, but the grime and garage duo have been kicking out heat for a long time now, so where have you been?
To get yourself up to speed, at the very least you need to check out their epic collab with Asher D and P Money, "We Run The Show", and their 2016 protest banger "The Saviour". So those are you starting points. From there you'll surely want to dive much deeper into their countless mixes, productions and remixes. Before you do that, though, take 30 minutes out of your day to hear their exclusive Complex Sessions mix, a half hour of grimey bangers. There's more than a few anthems you'll recognise — Wiley and D Double's "Better Than The Rest", Skepta and Suspect's "Stay Alive", and their remix of Naughty Boy and Ray BLK's "All Or Nothing" — but, in between that, they've dug deep into their crates for plenty of slept-on fire.
Tell us a bit about your selections in this mix.
Quite simple really — new UKG and grime that I'm feeling at the moment There's some sick new UKG come grime hybrids being created by the likes of HR6, Conducta and Mistakay. There's some sick grime instrumentals floating around atm so wanted to highlight a few of those.
What was the one track you absolutely had to include?
"Revolver Riddim" obviously. Name a better grime instrumental this year - I'll wait...
Any tracks that narrowly missed the cut?
Yeah so many you know! Mainly just a BPM issue though. Novelist - "Gangster" and JD Reid feat Bossman Birdie & Ghetts - "Different" are the two that spring to mind.
What's the first single or album you ever bought?
Think it was Warren G - "I Shot The Sheriff" which is quite a cool record to buy. I think that was swiftly followed by Peter Andre - "Flava" though so maybe not that cool!
What's the last physical record you bought?
I bought a CD from one of those hip-hop dons who stand outside concerts shotting their disks for £5 or any contribution you can give - gotta rate the hustle!
What do you want to see happen musically over the next 12 months?
I hope people will allow Grime to expand from it's strict parameters and grow into the genre it's destined to be. More generally, I hope people will focus less on genres.
What trend or scene absolutely needs to die right now?
I don't like to see anything die, to be honest, to be honest. I get inspired by all types of music. I hope the afro bashment scene doesn't kill itself by becoming too samey though. I think there's enough genius artists within the scene to keep it fresh though.
Tracklist:
1. GoldLink - "Crew" (Conducta Remix)
2. Star.One - "Okay Instrumental"
3. Realz x Star.One - "Everything's Live"
4. Murkage Dave - "Put You On My Shoulders" (Star Slinger Remix)
5. Naughty Boy feat Ray Blk - "All Or Nothing" (Star.One Remix f/ Yizzy & Coco)
6. HR6 - "Homework"
7. Mistakay - "Where's This Love"
8. J Beatz - "Nutshell"
9. Newbaan - "Badda Than Dem"
10. Maniac - "Victoria Park"
11. Namesbliss f/ Manga - "Style & Grace"
12. Johnny East - "Limitless"
13. Skepta x Suspect - "Stay Alive"
14. Sir Hiss - "DAnny Uzi Vert"
15. D Double E x Wiley - "Better Than The Rest"
16. Yizzy - "Let That Go" f/ Gemin1 & Blacks
17. Levlz - "Saddam Hussein"
18. Sh?m - "Pull Up To Mi Bumpa"
29. Star.One - "Revolver Riddim"
20. Capo Lee - "Dream"
21. Audioslugs - "Clapped Riddim"
