4Dee’s Debut album WAS well worth the wait

27 Oct

History is written by the victors it is said, however that never stops history being made by the underdogs. For me, the debut album release from Welsh Hip-hop legend 4Dee is a historic occasion, however I fear there are far too few people who will acknowledge it as such. Not that you can blame them really, whilst many Welsh bands and musicians have a tough fight to be heard on the global stage, the homegrown Hip-hop artists have often fought to be heard in their own country. Although this has led to countless frustrations over the years, one bonus is there is a generation of Hip-hop artists who never had a chance to get burned by any industry and so they never lost their individualism, or indeed their passion for the culture.

I think it’s fair to say that 4Dee’s passion runs even deeper than most and his Hip-hop roots go back nearly 40 years to 1983 when he became one of Wales’ earliest B Boys. Then in 1985 he joined Cardiff’s first recognised rap crew Hardrock Concept with lifelong collaborator DJ Jaffa, future Technotronic member MC Eric (who later signed to Island Records as Me One, putting out the incredible As Far as I'm Concerned album), DK, Acko, Kiyaga, Leroy Bishop and Bubba (all members at various times in the group’s relatively short history). He was also the instigator for the city’s first regular Hip-hop jams at Grass Roots youth project in the city centre.

Around 1992 4Dee launched a multi award winning community youth group alongside his sister Roberta and DJ Jaffa. The Underdogs were based out of Berta’s 3 bedroom house on the St Mellon’s Council Estate but in an 8 year period worked with hundreds of rappers, singers and dancers, putting on tons of performances and scooping up competition titles across the country and taking members to perform across Germany, France and Slovakia. Some of the rappers to come out of the project include: Johnny B (incidentally Keltech & Johnny B’s classic 2004 album The Name has finally come out on streaming sites and it includes a very rare feature from yours truly), future Potato Skinz members Evil C and Tyrone (remember the guy in Human Traffic who was sold the Itchy Trigger Finger N***az? That was him); Naytan The Watcher and Sparky both of whom joined 4Dee in the 90s Hip-hop groups Under The Gun (an early rock / rap crossover) and Sionis.

Although Underdogs wound down in 2000, 4Dee showed no signs of slowing through a period many view as the ‘Golden Age’ of Welsh Hip-hop. As well as continuing his youth work as a rapper and B Boy, he could be found hosting many of the decade’s major Hip-hop events, from the Welsh B Boy Championships to the Higher Learning nights which he was also resident DJ for. He linked up with Joe Blow from Barry Town’s Squid Ninjaz and legendary Welsh producer Stagga to form Undecorated Veteranz (check their killer 2006 EP here) and joined South Wales supergroup Red Dragon Gang alongside the likes of Junior Disprol, DW Smith, Dick Dastardly, Oort Kuiper and Ral Duke (both Joe Blow and DJ Jaffa were also members).

Indelible is very much a solo album, in fact as I mentioned earlier, it’s 4Dee’s debut solo album, nevertheless he has included a whole host of guests from his long history, many of whom are mentioned above such as DJ Jaffa and Joe Blow, or Junior Disprol who appears on the track Get Up alongside my partner in crime for the longest time Dregz. Two of the most important figures on the Cardiff Hip-hop scene, Junior has been an incredibly prolific rapper since the 90s, going back to his time as Ehf and Fog Scratch Leg. His collaborations with Secondson as Fleapit were something of a turning point for the scene and Music From The Ditch is an all time classic whilst Dead Residents, his group alongside rhyme partner Chud Jackson and the late great Stagga on decks and production, pushed the boundaries and made music that is just as exciting today as it ever was.

Dregz is rather harder to find on record but that makes his appearance here even more special. It’s hard for me to summarise his importance to both me and the scene in general but he’s been around since the Grass Roots jams and through his group Best Shot Posse, who eventually signed to East West Records, was my entry into the whole world of Welsh Hip-hop. Not to mention he got me rhyming with his follow up group Potato Skinz who had already been making some of the most creative Hip-hop around for years before I jumped on board properly. He arranged my first ever DJ residency, was with me the first time we played at Glastonbury with Dark Chunk and hosted my first DJ set there (alongside Monky and Stagga as Chrome Kids). It was also his drive and connections which kick started Higher Learning, my entry level to putting on events and a hub for the local Hip-hop scene for well over a decade. There’s much more to be said and much more in store (watch this space) but he’s also currently doing great things with Radio Platfform at the Wales Millennium Centre, which in it’s own way has become something of a hub for the current crop of Grime, Hip-hop and RNB artists in the city.

Welsh pride is something that runs through all of 4Dee’s music and Dragonz is positively bursting with it (for anyone who has happened upon this post without any knowledge of Wales, for context our flag has a dragon on it), it features Mr Phormula who, over the years since he first appeared with Pep Le Pew back in the late 90s, has become the primary proponent of Welsh language rhymes.

Back in the mid nineties, Gotas de Rap, a Hip-hop crew from the Las Cruces barrio in Bogotá found themselves on the St Mellons estate in Cardiff hanging out with The Underdogs as part of a European tour. Although they disbanded in 1999, 4Dee kept in touch with Tormento from the group and he jumps on the track Package From Colombia.

The production on ‘Indelible’ is raw Hip-hop to the core, a series of head snapping Boom Bap beats, repurposing some classic samples in places to great effect. Perhaps the one main diversion is some seriously filthy basslines that wouldn’t sound out of place on a DNB tune, which considering 4Dee is also a resident MC at Joe Blow’s regular packed out Jump Up night Circle 8 makes perfect sense. 4Dee undoubtedly wears his history on his sleeve and hopefully this album is an indelible marker of his career with many more years to come.

I’d have loved to catch up further with 4Dee to give you some extra info but when I reached out to him his daughter was just about to be born, I’ll have to tell you more when he drops his sophomore release, let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another 30 something years! In the meantime, donate to his pampers fund and pick up a copy of Indelible now.