At the beginning of the 90's, Ghostface Killah - aka Ghostface, Tony Starks or Ironman – was there when Wu-Tang Clan began, together with roommate The RZA. They shared not only rooms but also a predilection for hip-hop. His most recent solo album ‘The Big Doe Rehab’ now dates from late 2007 but the man rarely sits still. Over the last decade, he has mostly worked together with other Wu-Tang members (e.g. Raekwon) but equally well with underground favorite MF Doom. Together they made the as yet unreleased ‘Swift & Changeable’ that will finally/hopefully see the light of day this year – thanks to the Lex label (Warp's hip-hop office).

Kyteman is currently the live hip hop hype for our Northern neighbours. This 22 year-old trumpet player from Utrecht spent the last 5 years working intensively on his debut, for which the number of guest contributions got out of hand after a while. The result: on an average day, Kyteman contains no less (but sometimes even more) than 20 musicians on stage, neatly divided into Kyteman’s Hip Hop Orchestra, the Red Lime String Quartet and a series of MC’s. ‘The Hermit Sessions’ is the album that will be released here later this year but is already making an impression in the Netherlands now. A delicious disc that converts elements of classical, jazz, ragtime, reggae, electro and rock into one fluent whole. NRC Handelsblad wrote: ‘In one hour, the benchmark for live hip-hop has been raised a metre by a young guy from Utrecht who is yet to make his debut … hip-hop has seldom sounded so marvellous and energetic.'

GHOSTFACE KILLAH - 'Daytona 500'

KYTEMAN ‘No More Singing The Blues – live in Utrecht’