Angus Batey
Angus Batey has been writing professionally since 1988, sometimes as a member of staff, but since 2000 as a full-time freelance. He has written for a wide range of magazines, including NME. His writing about music is extensive, with a particular focus on hip hop.
145 articles
List of articles in the library
Ultramagnetic MCs: Funk Your Head Up (ffrr/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992
IT'S NEARLY five years since Ultramagnetic MCs released their debut Critical Breakdown, but you only get nine minutes into the follow-up before 'Blast From The ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Don't Sweat The Technique (MCA/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
SWEAT SOUL MUSIC ...
Pete Rock & CL Smooth: Mecca & The Soul Brother (Elektra/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
FOR A DEBUT LP, Mecca & The Soul Brother has some serious expectations to live up to. Pete Rock has earned himself a reputation as ...
Boogie Down Productions: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 18 July 1992
BDP ARE one of few constants in the fast-moving, ever-changing hip-hop world. Since 1986 they've put out hardcore classics without concession to passing fads, earning ...
Ice Cube: Cube Missive Crisis: Ice Cube: The Predator (4th & Broadway)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 21 November 1992
YOU ARE NOT going to believe this. ...
Brand New Heavies: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 16 January 1993
THE STAGE is awash with reflected light from a dozen mirrorballs and the back wall is bedecked in enough gold lame to keep Moz in ...
Ice-T: "Bring Me The Head of Charlton Heston"
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 13 March 1993
America's most wanted... public enemy one... ICE-T's reputation is just about as real as he wants it to get right now. Ever since the 'Cop ...
Naughty By Nature: Hooray Homies
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 20 March 1993
They're huge! They're massive! NAUGHTY BY NATURE are the rap equivalent of Nirvana, catapulted to success by the unstoppable 'OPP'. But as they hold promotional ...
Cypress Hill: Black Sunday (Ruffhouse/Columbia/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 24 July 1993
THE GRIM REEFERS ...
The Fugees: Emigration Terrorists
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 19 February 1994
Fact: like it or lump it in with the nastier things in life, hip-hop is still growing like the tumour from hell. Fittingly, as the ...
Gang Starr, Jeru the Damaja: Gang Starr: Respect is Duo
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
Four albums down the line, GANG STARR are on the verge of promotion to the Premier League with their unique brand of rap. ANGUS BATEY ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Now Is Not The Time To Talk To Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Interview by Angus Batey, unpublished, May 1994
Originally written for the NME, this article was not published ...
Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Rage — The Chronic Tour: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, June 1994
WHEN YOU think about it, the very fact that this gig took place at all seems more than a little miraculous. With one of the ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, November 1994
THURSDAY 1st September, Backstage stairwell, The Forum, Kentish Town, London. ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, March 1995
Ice-T, Ice Cube, LL Cool J... The West Coast of America is famous for its frozen rappers. Now cometh the latest million-selling iceman: Coolio ...
Report by Angus Batey, Vox, August 1995
Snoop and Dr Dre's tales of the 'hoods of South Central may have redirected the media's fickle attention to the West Coast, but New York ...
Naughty By Nature: Naughty But Nice
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, August 1995
Born in the ghetto, Naughty By Nature intend to stay there, despite the band's success ...
Eric B. & Rakim, Rakim: Rakim: I'll Be Back
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, December 1995
Once upon a rhyme, a young rapper called Rakim hooked up with a deejay named Eric B. The collision was cataclysmic and their impact deadly. ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Tupac Shakur: War Of The Words
Report by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996
TUPAC SHAKUR's death has once again highlighted the feud between the East Coast and West Coast rap communities. ANGUS BATEY takes a look at hip-hop's ...
The Roots: Jazz Café, London; Effenaar, Eindhoven; Nighttown, Rotterdam
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 22 February 1997
HOLD THE front page! Rap band in 'turns up' shock! Punters left reeling after American rappers successfully tour Europe... ...
The Notorious B.I.G. (1972-97)
Obituary by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 15 March 1997
NOTORIOUS BIG, born Christopher Wallace, had risen from poverty to become one of the most influential figures in the hip-hop world in an incredibly short ...
DJ Kool Herc, Grand Wizard Theodore: DJ Kool Herc and Grand Wizard Theodore
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, May 1997
DJS KOOL HERC and Grand Wizard Theodore, who recently played in London as support to the Chemical Brothers, may not be up there with yer ...
Blackstreet: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 3 May 1997
GIANT VIDEO screens above the stage are showing two members of Blackstreet rendered as puppets, and they're having a bit of a row about something. ...
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 24 May 1997
AFTER 11 years as a recording artist, surely even the gargantuan ego at the heart of KRS-One must have been surprised when 'Step Into A ...
Mary J. Blige: Mary J Blige: Material World
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, June 1997
WHAT'S THE most embarrassing item of clothing you've ever bought? ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, June 1997
The songTHE SECOND single to be taked from Primal Scream's forthcoming Vanishing Point LP, 'Star' finds Bobby Gillespie drawing on his personal vocabulary of revolutionary ...
Wyclef Jean: Logical Procession: Wyclef Jean Featuring Refugee Allstars: The Carnival (Ruff House)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 21 June 1997
A LOT OF RUBBISH has been written about the Fugees since 'Killing Me Softly' elevated them to the dizzying pinnacle of pop stardom, and Wyclef ...
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones: Live Art
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, July 1997
PERIPATETIC FOOTBALL manager and TV raconteur Ron Atkinson once memorably berated an errant striker's inability in front of goal by claiming that "he couldn't hit ...
Puff Daddy: Smalls Wonder: Puff Daddy & The Family: No Way Out (Bad Boy Records)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 26 July 1997
IN LIFE, only death is certain. For the religious, the prospect of paradise beyond the great divide provides an energising, vital motivation. For the cynics, ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Critical Beatdown (Roadrunner/Next Plateau)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, September 1997
KOOL KEITH is Liam Howlett's favourite rapper. And this relic from an age before 'Diesel Power' and Dr. Octagon shows why. ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, November 1997
THERE'S A shadow across Rakim's face, but his brown eyes are shining. The man who is for many the greatest rapper ever to have picked ...
Busta Rhymes: Bump'N'Grundies!
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 13 December 1997
Pants! Lewdness! Spinal Tap-esque shenanigans! Yes indeedy, it's rap megastar BUSTA RHYMES giving it his inimitable 'Woo hah!' on a Stateside hip-hop extravaganza. On the ...
LL Cool J: Tellin' it like it is
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, January 1998
Million-selling rap king, actor, ladies' man and now a no-holds-barred autobiographer… who in their right minds could resist LL COOL J? ...
All Saints: They Know Where It's At
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, March 1998
And finally we have lift-off. Yes, 'Never Ever' may have taken its time getting there, but Britain's finest all-girl band have hit Number One, and ...
Terry Callier: TimePeace (Talkin' Loud) ****
Review and Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, March 1998
Long-lost singer-songwriter's classy comeback ...
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, March 1998
SOMETIMES THE simplest words are the most powerful. Plain statements. Single syllables. Don't pull your punches – hit 'em hard. ...
Madonna: Immaculate Projection: Madonna: Ray Of Light (Maverick/WEA) *****
Review by Angus Batey, Vox, April 1998
Music, motherhood and much, much more: real revelation from the world's most famous single parent ...
Gang Starr: Moment Of Truth (Cooltempo/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 11 April 1998
IN HIP-HOP'S world of oversized egos and spiralling sales, few dare to admit weakness. So for veteran New York-based duo Gang Starr to return after ...
The Fall: Totale's Turns/Slates/A Part Of America Therein, 1981 (Essential/Castle)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, May 1998
"I DON'T PARTICULARLY like the person singing on this LP," opines Roman Totale XVIII in his sleevenotes to Totale's Turns. "That said, I marvel at ...
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 9 May 1998
COMPANY FLOW are the future of rap. Their schizoid debut LP, Funcrusher Plus, is the biggest thing yet from Rawkus, arguably the most influential NY ...
Janet Jackson: The Jackson Fave: Janet Jackson: Ahoy, Rotterdam
Live Review by Angus Batey, Vox, June 1998
"When I was 17 I did what people told me Did what my father said and let my mother mould me But that was ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Gone — The Essential Guide To Yesterday's Heroes: Ultramagnetic MCs
Retrospective by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 3 June 1998
WHO THEY? Revered underground hip-hop pioneers from the late-'80s, Moe Luv, TR Love, Ced Gee and Kool Keith have long been consigned to the penury ...
Rakim: Ladbroke Grove Subterania, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 6 June 1998
HE CALLS himself "God". ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Snoop Dogg: Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told (No Limit)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 29 August 1998
IT'S ONE OF THE most depressing stories in pop music. ...
A Tribe Called Quest: How The Quest Was Gone
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, September 1998
Say it ain't so! A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, one of the most loved and respected hip-hop bands ever, have bitten the dust. Here, they reveal ...
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, December 1998
IN A SPARTAN East London front room, two of the '90s most innovative dance music pioneers are attempting to explain where they've been these past ...
Faith Evans: Keep The Faith (Arista/Puff Daddy Records)
Review by Angus Batey, Muzik, January 1999
Notorious BIG's wife and R&B sensation's long-time-coming Puffy-produced second album ...
Canibus, LL Cool J, Wyclef Jean: LL Cool J, Canibus and Wyclef Jean: The '4,3,2,1' Beef
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2000
WHEN CANIBUS recorded a verse for LL Cool J's '4,3,2,1' in 1997, he can hardly have realised what was about to unfold. ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2000
"I ALWAYS like the idea of people getting together, like The Power Station, the Travelling Wilburys, groups like that," says Raphael Saadiq in all earnestness. ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, CMJ New Music Monthly, October 2000
YOU'RE LISTENING to The Hour Of Bewilderbeast, the acerbic, eclectic and often quite magical debut album by English eccentric Damon "Badly Drawn Boy" Gough. ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, CMJ New Music Monthly, November 2000
"MY EYE'S REALLY hurting. I'm really stressed. I worry because my hair's falling out, and I don't know if that's important. Will people still buy ...
The Incredible Bongo Band: Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2000
THE AVUNCULAR 56-year-old American sat in a suite in London's Dorchester Hotel doesn't immediately strike you as a rock'n'roll type, but Michael Viner has quite ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2001
FROM THE drivers' seat of his black GMC jeep, Kool G Rap stares intently at the police car. Despite the air conditioning being turned up ...
Report by Angus Batey, Dazed & Confused, March 2001
"I'm a person just like youBut I've got better things to doThan sit around and fuck my headHang out with the living deadSnort white shit ...
N.E.R.D.: Mojo Rising: N*E*R*D
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, August 2001
Rap and R&B excellence under the sway of moonwalking foxes and crazy Bonnie Raitt. ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Dazed & Confused, August 2001
SAUL WILLIAMS runs his hand through his dreadlocked mane and grins. Fighting off a heavy cold a few hours before his first UK headline show, ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2001
Lightning banjo picker Earl Scruggs was there at the birth of bluegrass. Over half a century later he's back with a new album and a ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Arena, November 2001
BARELY 18 months ago they were an indie covers band, nervously dropping their own songs into a set comprised of other people's hits. But this ...
Bootsy Collins, OutKast: Funk: Bootsy Collins and OutKast
Interview by Angus Batey, Dazed & Confused, December 2001
What is funk anyway? A type of music? A sound? An attitude, a style, a feeling? ...
Sylvia Robinson, The Sugarhill Gang: Sugar Hill Records: Here's To You, Mrs Robinson
Retrospective by Angus Batey, Mojo Collections, Winter 2001
She took Motown as her blueprint and signed the first all-female rap group. But, as Angus Batey discovers, Sylvia Robinson and the Sugarhill mob spent ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2002
BUSTA RHYMES has a heavy cold and a brutal schedule, and he's already running three hours late. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, Mojo Collections, 2002
STEVE SCIPIO pauses. The bass player and songwriter with Cymande is trying to recall what exactly his band's biggest hit, the reggae-funk masterpiece 'The Message', ...
Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, April 2002
IT'S JUST another rainy night in April, and the Green Mill, a bar on Chicago's north side, is hosting its regular Monday resident. Opening with ...
Ant and Dec: Ant & Dec: Sing When You're Winning
Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 29 May 2002
Angus Batey meets the men behind the official England song, Geordie funsters Ant and Dec ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Biggie & Tupac: Fear Of A Black Messiah
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, July 2002
Nick Broomfield's new film may well have solved the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Angus Batey went to seek out the facts. ...
Tom Jones, Wyclef Jean: Tom Jones and Wyclef Jean
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Touch, November 2002
SO YOU'RE sitting there, in the London Metropole hotel, chatting to Wyclef Jean about his new LP, Maqsquerade. ...
The Roots: Hip Hop Erudition And Wit
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, January 2003
"I'M ALIVE NOW!" BARKS AHMIR ?uestlove Thompson, drummer and de facto leader of Philadelphia hip hop band The Roots, and music press consumer of impeccable ...
Bob Dylan, Wyclef Jean: Last Night A Record Changed My Life: Wyclef Jean on Bob Dylan's Infidels
Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, April 2003
I FIRST HEARD Infidels when I was about 15 years old. My brother was away, me and him were in different schools. I was more ...
Meat Loaf: Hello Goodbye: Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, June 2003
They met to create musical drama. After years of huge success, it ended in managerial rancour and paralysed vocal chords. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, September 2003
Back in 1986 hip hop entered a golden age — lyrical revolution, sonic innovation, and individuality — that gave rise to such rap legends as ...
So Solid Crew: Urbane Warriors
Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 19 September 2003
So Solid Crew are back to give us hip-hop with a social conscience, says Angus Batey ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 4 October 2003
THE BRIGHTEST and most controversial new star to appear in the British jazz firmament in years is explaining how he first became interested in the ...
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 23 October 2003
For more than 20 years, hip-hop culture has shaped the face of popular music, fashion, even political debate. And for the past decade, Vibe magazine ...
Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, December 2003
For ten years hip hop duo OutKast have crafted wild, genre-defying music. Now, following their 2-CD masterpiece, it looks like that relationship might well be ...
Wyclef Jean: The Preacher's Son ****
Review and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, December 2003
That "one time, two times" bloke out of the Fugees makes an album for MOJO readers. No, really. ...
Jay Z: Jay-Z: The Black Album (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) *****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, January 2004
A final autobiographical confession from one of rap's giants ...
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, January 2004
Virginia's avant-garde hip hop twosome are still on the right track on their respective new LPs, but have they started to run out of steam? ...
Kanye West: The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) ****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, May 2004
Super-producer takes up the mike for his "solo" debut. ...
N.E.R.D.: N*E*R*D: Fly Or Die (Virgin) ****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, May 2004
The Neptunes party like it's 1973 ...
Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz: Lil Jon: Time to crunk it up
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 15 January 2005
He's crazy. He's drunk. He is "crunk". Angus Batey meets Lil Jon ...
The Game: The Documentary (Interscope)
Review by Angus Batey, The Times, 29 January 2005
JACEYON TAYLOR, aka the Game, is keen to point out to his listeners that rap was not his first calling. The 25-year-old turned to music ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Express, March 2005
WHEN YOU'RE a pop star, life rushes by at a furious pace. And things are so hectic for Joss Stone right now that the only ...
Out of tune: Customers suffer in the music download war
Report by Angus Batey, The Times, 26 March 2005
This month, a group of unnamed people became the first casualties of the UK music industry's war on internet piracy, when the British Phonographic Industry ...
Faith Evans: Time To Try Again
Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 30 April 2005
Two UK No 1s have not made the former Mrs BIG a household name in this country. Faith Evan's new album might just do it ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Express, May 2005
"LIFE'S GREAT," says Jim "Midge" Ure, smiling as he sips a soft drink at a corner table in a tiny upstairs cafe in Bath. "If ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2006
ONE OF the most unexpected meetings in English Parliamentary history took place in late October, when Rhymefest sat down with Conservative Party leader David Cameron. ...
The Thick of Hip: Touré's Never Drank the Kool-Aid
Book Review by Angus Batey, The Times, 25 February 2006
WRITING ABOUT MUSIC, Elvis Costello once remarked, is like dancing about architecture. If that were true, writing about hip hop, with its inherent wordiness, its ...
Roots Manuva: Britain's deepest rap star
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 9 March 2006
ROOTS MANUVA, king of British hip hop, tells Angus Batey about his new album, his "moronic" sense of humour — and why he pretended he ...
Hank Williams III: It's country but not as we know it
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 16 March 2006
"GARY JUMPED INTO a metal beam and that messed him up a little bit," shrugs Williams of his mohawk-sporting bassist, whose head injury on the ...
Gnarls Barkley: Say Yes To Droogs!
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, June 2006
Welcome Gnarls Barkley, The Hip Hop Superband Who've Scored The Planet's First Download-Only Number 1. ...
Timbaland: "I'm up here. Everyone else is down there."
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 8 August 2006
TIM "TIMBALAND" Mosley, the most in-demand music producer in the world, is tired. But the task of staying awake is made easier because, right now, ...
Review by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 23 September 2006
FROM ARRESTED Development to the Streets, hip-hop history is littered with rappers who wowed critics and had pop hits but left the cognoscenti cold. ...
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, October 2006
After their last album suggested a split, OutKast get it together again in spectacular fashion. Just don't call it a comeback, says Angus Batey. ...
Ghostface Killah: Coronet, London ***
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 11 October 2006
"IF YOU listen to my lyrics, you'll know I'm a soul baby," confesses Dennis Coles midway through a typically eccentric set. "And you've got to ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, January 2007
JERRY HELLER may just have the most undeservedly bad rep in the history of hip hop. ...
Russell Simmons: Taking the words out of their mouths
Comment by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 30 April 2007
When Russell Simmons says rappers should stop saying "bitch", "ho" and "nigger", he doesn't go far enough. ...
Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland: Kelly Rowland: Destiny Fulfilled
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 15 June 2007
Kelly Rowland reassures Angus Batey that, despite the all the conspiracy theories, she has not had a phantom baby, her new album isn't bitter about ...
Pharoahe Monch: Hip-hop gets its sense of humour back
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 16 June 2007
PHAROAHE MONCH'S sales record is modest, but his music makes up in resonance and impact what it may lack in commercial clout. ...
John Legend: Soul Food For Thought
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 20 June 2007
Feted by everyone from Kanye West to Paul McCartney, John Legend could easily rest on his laurels. But the cerebral singer/producer tells Angus Batey he's ...
Talib Kweli: Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 9 July 2007
IF THERE ARE TO BE WINNERS AND LOSERS in what has become hip-hop's year of living introspectively, it would be difficult to think of a ...
Beverley Knight, Candi Staton: In Praise of Gospel Music
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 23 July 2007
IN THE BOWELS of the BBC's Maida Vale studios, a spirit is stirring. Spread around the large room, a band, choir and two singers are ...
Black Eyed Peas: Will.i.am: Peas In Our Time
Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 10 August 2007
The Black Eyed Peas' frontman Will.i.am tells our correspondent how "happy" music took him from the ghetto to the Top Ten ...
Alison Hinds: Notting Hill Carnival: Alison Hinds ready to reign at Carnival
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 23 August 2007
'Roll It Gal' by Alison Hinds will be the song that rules this weekend's Notting Hill Carnival. Angus Batey meets the Barbadian star. ...
Sean Kingston: Instant Messenger
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 31 August 2007
Three months ago, no one had heard of Sean Kingston. Now he has a No 1 single and a MOBO nomination – all thanks to ...
Harry Connick Jr: Renewing New Orleans
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 30 September 2007
Hurricane Katrina almost killed the New Orleans music scene. Now many of its players are coming back – to a musicians' village in the heart ...
Alicia Keys: The Ascent Of Alicia Keys
Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 10 November 2007
A family death hit her hard but Alicia Keys found inspiration to go on — on top of the Great Pyramid ...
Maroon 5: The Band They Hate To Love
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 16 November 2007
They've sold 2m albums in the UK, 10m in the US. But they can't get a good review. Angus Batey goes backstage with Maroon 5, ...
Interview by Angus Batey, unpublished, January 2008
N.B. This piece was going to run in the Mail on Sunday's Live section, but due to problems with photos — or, perhaps, a fear ...
Realistic Crew, Suhancos: "This is Hungary - we don't have stars": Realistic Crew and Suhancos
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 29 February 2008
Hungarian hip-hop has been going strong since 1984, and its musicians are keen to be recognised globally. The problem: they're just not Hungarian enough. Angus ...
Terry Callier: The Jazz Cafe, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 March 2008
ABOUT 40 MINUTES into this riveting performance, Terry Callier cuts to the chase. "We've talked about so much stuff now," he says with a shrug, ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 28 March 2008
"I FIGHT BACK!" a grinning Alec Empire blurts, explaining why his iPod contains only three albums (by John Coltrane and Stockhausen) but has been filled ...
The Roots: It's Like A Jungle Sometimes...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 25 April 2008
They are a hip-hop purist's dream, constantly touring and constantly praised. But behind the scenes, the Roots have a fight on their hands. Angus Batey ...
John Mayer: Famous Girlfriend Blues
Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2008
John Mayer would prefer to talk about his guitar-playing, but what everyone really wants to know is how he's treating his woman, Jennifer Aniston. "I've ...
Alicia Keys: The Girl's On Fire: Why Alicia Keys Is Such Hot Poperty
Interview by Angus Batey, Mail On Sunday, 30 June 2008
Alicia Keys is red hot right now: Prince wants to be her towel roadie, Dylan wrote a song about her, and Halle Berry head-hunted her ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 11 July 2008
"I'LL BE HONEST with you, and I'll be honest with your paper," sighs Robert Diggs, managing to sound both emphatic and resigned at the same ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 17 July 2008
THE MOMENT WHERE IT ALL CLICKS INTO PLACE for the Wu-Tang Clan comes about halfway through their rambunctious, chaotic and uncommonly exciting 70 minutes on ...
Ne-Yo: 'Do I Have To Sell My Soul?'
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 18 July 2008
He's an R&B singer, and songwriter to the stars. But when the music stops, Ne-Yo vanishes from the spotlight. He tells Angus Batey why that's ...
John Legend: "Don't blame hip-hop for everything that's wrong in the world," says John Legend
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Mail, 19 July 2008
"A LOT OF THESE places are disappearing," says John Legend with a rueful smile. He is sitting at a grand piano in the middle of ...
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 18 September 2008
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons helped Run DMC, Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys make it big. But is his greatest talent self-promotion? Angus Batey meets ...
50 Cent: From The Firing Line To The Firing Range
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 1 October 2008
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is in a strangely revealing mood as he discusses working with De Niro and Pacino, how getting shot harmed his record ...
Estelle: The Guardian profile: Estelle Swaray
Profile by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 17 October 2008
Mobo win is vindication for singer who had to move to US to find success. ...
Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr., Hank Williams III: Go your own way: Hank Williams and his progeny
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 October 2008
Hank Williams changed the face of country music. How can his descendants live up to that? Angus Batey finds out. ...
Kanye West: 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella) ****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2008
NB This record wasn't made available to reviewers properly, due partly to Kanye still working on it at the time MOJO went to press. As ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, April 2009
I GUESS you could say he's been away. But he's never strayed far. ...
Age of Chance's Bangers and Mash-ups
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 8 October 2009
Sampling, dance-rock, cross-genre cover versions ... Age of Chance did it all 20 years ago, but no one was listening. As their back catalogue goes ...
Review by Angus Batey, Yahoo! Music, 16 November 2009
FIRST THINGS FIRST: yes, the cover art is awful. She isn't the only artist to bang on a bit too much for some people's tastes ...
John Mayer: 'You can't make music as a famous person'
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 19 November 2009
"I BASICALLY VISUALISED a record called Battle Studies as a way to sum up the last two years of my life: what I've learned and ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 22 December 2009
SHE WRITES all her own songs, can play them live and has never been seen emerging from a club looking the worse for wear. Alicia ...
So Solid Crew: 'What We're Doing Is Bigger Than Music'
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 14 January 2010
After a dramatic rise and a messy, destructive fall, So Solid are back. This time they intend to keep the tunes – and the money ...
Usher: "The fans want my soul"
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 29 April 2010
Baring his soul is second nature to R&B superstar Usher, but although he has documented his recent divorce on a new album, he's got to ...
Brad Paisley: A Different Kind of Cowboy
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 10 June 2010
Brad Paisley is not your usual Nashville country star. He talks about how Obama made him proud to be American – and why he dreams ...
CeeLo Green: Cee Lo Green: "I'd do a lot more damage if I could"
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 30 September 2010
There aren't many musicians who would consider releasing an expletive-laden viral hit to be selling out in some way. Angus Batey meets the remarkable pop-soulster ...
Blade, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Ruthless Rap Assassins: The hip-hop heritage society
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 7 October 2010
Why aren't Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions and other classic hip-hop acts lovingly reissued in the same way as other genres? Because guardians of rap's ...
John Legend, The Roots: John Legend and the Roots: Hearts, Minds and Soul
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 19 October 2010
John Legend and the Roots' album of '60s and '70s protest songs is no mere history lesson – it's an open letter to a divided ...
Amanda Ghost: not in Kansas any more
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 February 2011
NO ONE WAS MORE SHOCKED than singer-songwriter Amanda Ghost when she was asked to run Epic Records. She talks about what peeking behind the music-industry curtain taught ...
Lupe Fiasco: "I have the right to speak out"
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 3 March 2011
"SOLZHENITSYN PUT IT VERY QUAINTLY," says Lupe Fiasco. "Basically, there's a duality in everything — there's two sides to every story. Sometimes they complement each ...
The Hoosiers: Pop 'til you're dropped: The Hoosiers' major-label woe
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 March 2011
How tight is the margin between being the toast of your record company and being a failure? One chart place, as the Hoosiers found out ...
DJ Kool Herc DJs his first block party
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 13 June 2011
DJ Kool Herc DJs his first block party (his sister's birthday) on 13 August 1973 at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York ...
Retrospective by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 13 June 2011
AMONG hip-hop's canonical creation myths, few are as perfectly formed as Grand Wizard Theodore's invention of scratching. ...
A Tribe Called Quest: 20 Years On: A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory Revisited
Retrospective by Angus Batey, The Quietus, 10 October 2011
20 years after it was released and a month before the UK premiere of the Tribe Called Quest documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life, Angus Batey ...
The Jimmy Castor Bunch: Remembering The Everything Man: A Jimmy Castor Interview
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, The Quietus, 20 January 2012
Angus Batey pays tribute to the late Jimmy Castor, and we publish an extract from an extensive interview the journalist conducted with Castor over a ...
Guide by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 20 April 2016
From a chequered career, the tussle between the religious and the secular is audible on all of Green's best songs – even the ones he ...
Data, Driven: Spotify Under Surveillance
Book Review by Angus Batey, The Quietus, 30 March 2019
An academic team's look under the hood of the music-streaming giant arrives as worries over Silicon Valley snooping go mainstream. Angus Batey surveys the bookshop ...
Theon Cross: Cross Currents: Jazz Re:Fest 2019
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Quietus, 30 July 2019
The Jazz Re:Freshed crew celebrate another year of progress for their movement and their music with their seventh one-day festival in Brighton. Angus Batey goes ...
Richard Russell: Better Music Through Listening: XL's Richard Russell Interviewed
Interview by Angus Batey, The Quietus, 11 April 2020
The XL Records boss on his first book, new LP, and how not to be a dickhead. ...
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