While some in Scotland’s hip hop community strive to take production into the realm of abstract art form, there’s as many willing to get their heads down, keep it real and keep the message in the music. Edinburgh veterans Northern Xposure do the latter in their own inimitable style, with supreme local beatsmiths DagNabbit and Mungo’s Hi-Fi supplying an array of keen beats.

The yin and yang of Premoniton and Revalation’s male/female vocal lines weave a vivid, if sometimes simplistic picture of contemporary life. They don’t pull punches, blending mid-Atlantic slang and EH11 colloquialisms in equal measure. The message of ‘agitate, educate, organise!’comes through loud and clear and if it sounds pretty harsh then that’s because this is real life, not some blinged up fantasy, something too few can claim with any credibility.

(NRN EXP)