RPL Launch Party

The 'Reality Provoking Liberation' launch night was INCREDIBLE. Iron Braydz and Caxton Press destroyed it, and so did Apex, OMeza and the live band. It was a deep night of education, entertainment, energy and Hip Hop. Neo-Hardcore Hip Hop in full effect. Big up to everyone involved - especially Hoochinoo for putting the night on - they're great promotors, a pleasure to work with - and everyone who came out to support. ONE LOVE! 

The night was captured perfectly by Chiba Visuals - you can watch the highlights below

More videos of the event coming soon from Chiba Visuals

BLESS

Absolute Zero

THIS IS FOR THE NEO-HARDCORE! Incredible new video by Global Faction for Apex Zero's new single 'Absolute Zero'. Check it out - share, post and all that good shit if your feeling it - if you like mosh pits you'll like this!

Apex Zero's debut solo album 'Reality Provoking Liberation' is OUT NOW - listen to and buy it here -

https://firstandlast.bandcamp.com/album/reality-provoking-liberation 

Thanks for the support

Reality Provoking Liberation OUT NOW - More Reviews

 Thanks to everyone who's supporting the debut solo album from Apex Zero 'Reality Provoking Liberation that has just been released (28.10.13). We're getting some incredible reviews - here're the latest.

http://www.beardedmagazine.com/albums/article/apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation-design-chaos

http://datatransmission.co.uk/blog/apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation/

http://www.suspect-packages.com/store/reality-provoking-liberation/

http://www.undergroundhh.com/news/full/321/Apex-Zero-Reality-Provoking-Liberation-Review

http://popculturez.com/apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation/

http://nijimagazine.com/2013/10/apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation-album-review/

Reality Provoking Liberation (out 28th October) - Reviews

  ★★★★★   Michael Joyce

"After listening to Reality Provoking Liberation it is clear that Apex Zero is one of the most impressive rising artists in UK hip hop; this debut offering which is a solid piece of work from the first track to the last track will satisfy the taste of hip hop fans who like hard beats and rhymes from an emcee with something to say, giving the audience thought provoking rhymes which is refreshing to hear"

http://www.aaamusic.co.uk/2013/10/18/apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation/


 Andrew Kay 

"In an age where everything is dumbed down, including music, it’s a rare thing: an artist willing to speak out about the oppression of ordinary people, but in such an articulate and honest way...Apex Zero goes a long way to reminding people what music can do and what power it can have to inspire people to change their way of thinking and their outlook on life"
http://www.blacksheepmag.com/reviews/album-reviews/item/3996-reality-provoking-liberation

"Apex Zero’s style is lyrically dense but not un-fathomable and it’s likely some of the knowledge he kicks may push some people to learn about things schools don’t teach. He has a full on lyrical machine gun approach via his rapid unrelenting flow...Apex brings us plenty of food for thought and production that’s full of atmospheric strings and tuff beats. Indeed his album is a 12 course meal. 12 tracks of nourishing revolution! Don’t sleep on it."

http://www.wordplaymagazine.com/2013/10/uncategorized/apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation/

      



4/5    Mike Scheumeister

The beats are banging throughout...The dark instrumentals coupled with Apex Zero's fierce flow and intelligent subject matter set this album apart from many of the other hip-hop albums being released today...he has a confrontational style and clever politically-charged wordplay. While I may not agree with everything he says on the album, it's definitely nice to hear an emcee who refuses to cower to the powers that be and spit with a passion about the topics that he believes to be true.

http://rap-essence.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation.html

    Taytula Burke 

"Apex Zero is definitely a gifted emcee and I think given the unstable times we are living in, this for some, could be a soundtrack to revolution"

http://sampleface.co.uk/reviews/review-apex-zero-reality-provoking-liberation/ 



   




 Subika Anwar

"It’s an education for the masses — any one who is fight ing a social struggle...Turn ing up with out synthesisers or electronic inspired vocals, a raw in-depth vocalist that combines a unique graphic novel element, comes as a relief for us old-schoolers...A true underground artist."

http://www.iamhiphopmagazine.com/apex-zero-follows-mixtape-solo-album-reality-provoking-liberation-album-review/ 



    

Andy Fletcher - britishhiphop.com


"It is substance and quality...whether or not you agree with his revolutionary model, which separates the social commentary on this album from contrived works...far too provocative for a casual listen" 

http://www.britishhiphop.co.uk/reviews/album_reviews/apex_zero_-_reality_provoking_liberation_lp_indie.html 

Launch Party Date Change - 7th December

Due to unavoidable and unforeseen circumstances the launch party for REALITY PROVOKING LIBERATION has had to be pushed back to 7th December 2013. Everything else is the same - same ill line up of APEX ZERO, CAXTON PRESS and IRON BRAYDZ, same venue - Vibe Bar (Brick Lane).

Apologies for the changes - but its gonna be a BIG night still - all real Hip Hop heads lock the new date in your calendar.

'Reality Provoking Liberation' Launch Event

Lock this date in your diary! November 2nd at Vibe Bar (Brick Lane) with Hoochinoo Live.

We're gonna be performing tracks off the new APEX ZERO album 'REALITY PROVOKING LIBERATION' with a live band. Big performances on the night from CAXTON PRESS and IRON BRAYDZ. Come down for real Hip Hop all night. Follow this link to the Launch Night Facebook Page.

Apex Zero on 'Kick This!' with DJ Elma

Gotta give a massive shout out to DJ Elma and her 'Kick This!' series. She gave me a really great platform to express myself and my views. Check out the interview in the video above.

Respect

A Meeting of the Continents feat. Hasan Salaam and Iron Braydz

The new Apex Zero single A Meeting of the Continents feat. Hasan Salaam and Iron Braydz was recently premiered on The Rap Up

Great writeup - thanks for the support.

https://soundcloud.com/urbanelitepr/apex-zero-a-meeting-of-the

Chaotic Revolt

'Chaotic Revolt' video by Global Faction

On 4th August 2011, Mark Duggan was murdered by the metropolitan police. He was the latest in generations of people, particularly we of African descent, killed directly by the police and/or while in custody. In the immediate aftermath of his death, his family had to be informed of his murder by the mass media, as the police did not even have the decency or respect to contact them. Instead, that same mass media was used to attempt to defame and demonise the victim - the victim - of this murder.

On 6th August 2011, Mark's family, friends, neighbours and community of Tottenham held a peaceful protest to demand information outside their local police station. The police responded by putting the station's shutters down and attacking the protestors.

Over the next four days and nights, England burned. Thousands of people, angered beyond words and banner-holding took to the streets to vent that anger and years upon years of pent-up rage and frustration. That anger, rage and frustration had begun to appear since the anti-G8 summit protests in 2009, in the student protests of 2010/2011 and at other times, but this latest expression of disdain and disregard for an innocent man's life by the police and the establishment they protect lit the ammunition that had been building up and spilling out.

The ignored, belittled, endangered people of england rose up, disorganised, anarchical and chaotic, and made a bigger and more important statement and impact than any protest any 'activist' group had made in england's recent history. Private property meant nothing, commerce meant nothing, rules and laws of control and restraint meant nothing. The police were the enemy. The state was the enemy.

The significance of these events was displayed in the response by the oppressor. David Cameron, the face of the same company/country who at that same time was arming rebels in Africa and the Middle East to overthrow their leaders, named the agents of these uprisings as 'mindless thugs', the latest insult to add to 'benefit cheats', 'lazy unemployed', 'criminals', ' thieving immigrants', and 'niggers' 'pakis' 'wogs' 'terrorists' and 'wiggers' (to paraphrase David Starkey). Water cannons, rubber bullets, their army, disconnecting or blocking internet messaging - all these were suggested, some were used. Anyone found to be involved were given atrocious  prisons sentences - six months for 'looting' a packet of chewing gum, four years for writing a facebook status. Stuart Hall recently got fifteen months for abusing fourteen children as young as nine. But this is a democracy. We have rights. We have justice. We're free.

The media displayed every single person they could find to give opinions. The only condition for getting air-time to say whatever you wanted was to open an close with "I don't condone what people did". There was also a very loud silence from some 'community representatives' and 'role-models'. You expect this from the mainstream media and their go-to 'representatives' who gain publicity for their latest attempt at reform or keep quiet for their career's sake. But even people who call themselves militant, or even revolutionary, put out stuff on the internet saying to stop the 'needless destruction'.

What didn't happen, probably because the fear-mongering tactics of the state worked to plan, was that hardly anyone - activists, community leaders, artists, writers - attempted to organise and channel this anger in a truly productive direction. But again, some people did. That's why certain rich and affluent  areas of London and other cities were targeted by the uprisings. That's why in Birmingham police helicopters were shot at (following the pattern of Libya's no-fly-zone?). That's why police stations were fire bombed in Nottingham. That was those 'mindless thugs'. That wasn't the SWP. Who are more revolutionary?

Two years later, those rebels are facing life in prison. The police officers who murdered Mark Duggan are at home with their families. Mark's family, and those who truly support them, are still battling for answers, to be shown some respect, and most of all for justice for their son, brother, husband, nephew, father. So is the family of Joy Gardner. So is the family of Roger Sylvester. So is the family of Sean Rigg. So is the family of Cynthia Jarrett. So are the family of so many others, including Jimmy Mubenga, killed by G4S 'security' under the command of the UKBA.

These atrocities will continue as long as we let them, as long as we sit back and do nothing, as long as we don't support victims and each other in our communities, as long as we keep talking and making art about being revolutionary while doing nothing to study the reality of our situation and the history of revolt, while condemning the signs of potential revolution instead of organising them. And this is as much a personal critique as it is a criticism of anyone else. There isn't an easy answer, this isn't a small task. But we need to build on the things we do have, not chop them down through romanticism and being idealistic. Those uprisings two years ago were untrained acts of self-defence, after generations of constant attacks, from multiple and angles on us, the people, by them, the establishment. Its time to learn how to train, harness and channel those defensive instincts through discipline, organisation and focus - like becoming a martial artist instead of a brawler. Its down to us to use the tools we have to prepare for the inevitable continuation of these attacks. And when they come, we can't judge, condemn and let ourselves be further divided. We need to Unify, Organise and Revolt.

New Apex Zero solo album 'Reality Provoking Liberation' releases 28th October 2013. 

After the debut solo mixtape 'The Pulse of the Awakening' last year, with ill videos by Global Faction  and Slim and collaborations with eMCee Killa (of Caxton Press), First and Last partner in rhyme OMeza Omniscient, and the rest of the Pantheonz of Zenn-la, the full debut album set for release.

The album is the manifestation of years of work, struggle, experience, study and energy. 'Reality Provoking Liberation' is more than an album title, it is a principle for resisting and overcoming the  oppression endured by exploited people, whether outright and blatant or subtle and subliminal. Influenced by the teachings of Frantz Fanon and the interpretation of these teachings by Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party, 'Reality Provoking Liberation' is the use of the lessons and training acquired by our constant experiences of oppression (our Reality) to induce and inspire (to Provoke) ourselves and each other to take our freedom (our Liberation) for ourselves, by ourselves.

Music, like any art form, literature included, can only ever have a limited role in fighting for such action. Physical, grass roots grind and organisation are the only things that can bring about the essential unity, organisation and mobilisation that can lead to any kind of genuinely radical action. Musicians, like all artists, can only ever hope for their art to inspire, encourage, give strength and bolster those individuals and groups who take up this action. Equally, anyone who aspires to produce art that does this should also strive to be one of those individuals and a part of those groups.

This album is an offering to those individuals and groups. Largely self-produced, with additional production from OMeziah and DJ Fortune, the album is an attempt to give such inspiration and drill home the principle and philosophy of 'Reality Provoking Liberation', to argue continually that we already hold the tools needed to free ourselves. Amy True (of Caxton Press), Iron Braydz (of Triple Darkness), Hasan Salaam (of Viper Records) Invincible Armour (of Sensei FM), OMeza Omniscient (of First and Last/POZ), Seapa (of POZ) and Kyra all help to express this message through Neo-Hardcore Hip Hop music, a rebirth in a new form of the hardcore, gritty underground, intelligent, inspiring, bang-your-head-through-a-wall, mosh pit starting music that Tru Skool Hip Hop heads can't do without but don't get enough of in this day and age.

Also aiding to express the message though another medium, as always, is Global Faction. The first release from the album is 'Chaotic Revolt', written during the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings that showed that people all over britain were angered beyond words and banner-holding by the murder of Mark Duggan by armed police, the latest in generations of murder of our people by the foot-soldiers of the establishment. The video will be released on the second anniversary of the start of the insurrection on the 6th August. Go to http://www.globalfaction.com/ , or this blog from this date to see the video.

Respect

facebook.com/apex.omeza

twitter - @ApexZero00
youtube.com/firstandlastuk
firstandlast.bandcamp.com

Just Your Everyday Thoughts

First and Last/POZ family's Le Hornet, gifted poet, observer, thinker, writer and free spirit who has been blessing our tracks with incredible wisdom for years has now chiseled his thoughts in stone pages and released his first published book 'Just Your Everyday Thoughts'. 

You can read it through as any book or take a poem or two a day, either way you'll gain affirmation, insight, reflection, another perspective or just some interesting thoughts through underground Hip Hop poetry.

Show some deserved support to a great person and person with infectiously high energy.

Buy the book here from Amazon

Check out the new video by Slim for Apex Zero's track 'Our Times' feat. OMeza and Kyra. The track is produced by Apex Zero and will feature on the new debut solo Album out this year 'Reality Provoking Liberation'. 

If you aint already got it, download the FREE promo mixtape 'The Pulse of the Awakening'

Bandcamp link    Soundcloud link

The Key to Our Survival

Yo this is a bit delayed but check out the video for 'The Key to Our Survival' by Globalfaction. The second video track from Apex Zero's solo mixtape 'The Pulse of the Awakening' features ill verses from OMeza Omniscient and Caxton Press's eMCee Killa. Globalfaction killed the visuals as always. 

Download the mixtape FREE from Bandcamp or Soundcloud:

Bandcamp link    Soundcloud link