Newsletter #47 - April '25

In which I try and stay away from politics and social media.

Life without Facebook is immeasurably better. My head is clearer, my anxiety is lower and my mood has lifted somewhat these past few weeks. I’m torn about using it for work still because I keep getting drawn back in. It’s so highly addictive that I only need to check it once to find out I’ve suddenly been on there a few times in an hour.

I catch myself right away and I’m not scrolling or checking Messenger but Facebook always leave an incendiary post at the top of my feed to try and catch me out. I’ve even replied to a couple, only to delete my comment straight away. There’s still one of my comments on a Hot 97 FM post somewhere because people were replying at such a rapid rate that mine got lost. It was an image of the “RNB Mount Rushmore” with the faces of Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Usher and R Kelly. I’m sure they picked these specific singers just for engagement and to be honest, f**k them all the way to Friday for that.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be on Facebook at all, but you have to know what you’re up against. In my brief trips back I see so many false posts and fake images being shared. Being close to 50 I see no end of Victor Meldrew style rants, mostly from DJs, about how sh*t everything is now. What they don’t realise is that they can’t see the good stuff because their algorithm is going to carry on feeding them things that make them mad, until they get imprisoned by their own rage.

I spent a long time curating my feeds on every platform (and I still want out). It wasn’t until we started a new Land of Rap YouTube channel to go with our Substack that I realised how bad it is for some people. I spent a good couple of hours blocking accounts full of grifters, dickheads, racists, misogynists, mind numbingly dull content creators doing very little, endless fear mongers and a lot of Chinese music even though I’ve not expressed any interest in it whatsoever.

This last one is particularly interesting to me because I’ve been wondering when this cultural push was going to happen. America staked their dominance in music and films during the Cold War but is that likely to change in the next few years?

At no point did my algorithm think to recommend other Welsh rap artists. Despite the fact that’s all I’ve followed and watched on that account. This is a problem. If we are going to change the culture then we need to find a way to change the algorithms.

One thing that did catch my attention was the Coachella live feed. I’ve pretty much ignored the festival this time. Not for any conscious reason, it just hasn’t really tickled my radar. However I did watch the end of Thee Sacred Souls which was really good. I do like to see artists using it as a platform to speak out on what’s happening in the world. It can be a fine balance at times, even I’ve been annoyed at people ranting on stage while I’m off my tits at a festival. But sometimes it just takes reiterating the importance of love, respect, solidarity and understanding in the face of injustice and intolerance.

I’ve said I’ll keep politics out of this newsletter and I’ll continue to try, although things might spill out occasionally. I may also do separate posts covering topics I feel properly versed in from time to time. I do spend a lot of time thinking about our changing world though and I’m not someone who thought it was all roses in the first place. Also it’s not political to show solidarity with anyone having a tough time. As much as people may try to make it political.

You can show solidarity and compassion for the people in Gaza who are facing genocide or the Muslim and immigrants of every kind who are being shown increasing intolerance and Islamophobia by media, politicians and people on the street alike. At the same time you can show your solidarity and compassion with the Jewish people who are facing a rise in anti-semitism from every angle. None of that is political until you make it so, it’s just empathy.

You might agree with the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on trans identity. I disagree personally, but none of that is as important as showing a little bit of empathy and solidarity with the trans people who are having a really hard time at the moment. Maybe spend a moment trying to understand their position as well. If you’re fully on board already and are raging at the other side, maybe try and understand where they’re coming from a little more. People out here are wary, even scared and that’s not necessarily their fault. We need to get past that to see the humanity in each other.

You might think that RFK raised some good points about Big Pharma, but still think his recent views on people with autism are abhorrent. For me he’s not the important person in this picture. The people I care about are those who might now have to face an extra layer of bulls*t then they already do because someone with a huge global platform and a baffling level of authority, started telling lies about them.

My general rule of thumb is never ever under any circumstances punch down on anybody. You will only ever find the cause of your problems looking down at you from above - as I side note here I believe we are all equal in importance, even if we’re not equal in power, but that’s a whole other conversation.

I’ve left myself little room to tell you about all of the fun things this week so here they are in a nutshell. On a very Good Friday, Dub Pistols with Kayah Fyah and DJ Amiah at The Globe, followed by Nubiyan Twist at Tramshed, was an epic evening and really showed me what this city is capable of sometimes. All those acts absolutely smashed it and it was lovely to catch up with a few old friends at the same time. I finished off the night at Paradise Garden for Zhuzh, a new night (and Diff Radio show) from Hope Rose and Leighton Rees Milan.

It was the Welsh Ballroom Community founder’s birthday and when I got there he was spinning some killer tunes with the venue’s co-owner Esther. They’re back there again for a Pride after party in June. There’s a great night happening there tonight (Sunday 20th April) with Clwb Orange followed by reggae but I’m off to see the World Comedy Clash down at the Glee Club.

On Saturday I had a great night out at Canopi aka Sustainable Studios in Riverside. It was my mate Will’s 50th birthday and so I was spinning some tunes alongside Paul Lyons, Gareth Potter and Will’s partner Luna Amani who dropped some amazing bandari bangers for the Iranian folks there.

Both Luna and Will are playing a special all vinyl funk and disco set at our next Bump N Hustle night this coming Saturday. Worth coming for that alone but you’ve also got us usual suspects throwing down on the night.

Before I sign off for another week I want to pay my respects to Thad Baron aka Thadboogie who sadly passed this week. I only met him once at an Itch FM party a couple of years ago, but we used to chat over email a fair bit back in the day. He was a big figure on the music scene who did so much for so many people. Rest easy brother.