Not A Bad Look

carnival, originally uploaded by chantelle.

Naturally I'm referring to Kano being on the front cover of the Time Out Carnival guide with Lily Allen. The inside story by Paul McKenzie, new editor of Touch, is strong too. And that's no Hovis bread selection either. I might write for Touch but I disagreed with some of what was said in the Guardian Media guide about his takeover (everyone knows Touch isn't the only urban publication out there for a start and it was despicable for a report to run with such inaccurate suggestions), but you can't deny the piece has charm.

Anyway, not to detract from the point, Kano also has a new heater that's dropped in time for Carnival weekend. It's the Don Corleone produced 'Buss It Up', which is a collaboration between Kane and Vybz Kartel which was laid down in Jamaica a good few months back. Listen to Logan's show on Monday to hear it or go to bbc.co.uk/radio1 and find Westwoods weekend archive. It's a good warm up for the 2nd album that's due to drop next year, Feb time I think. I'm yet to hear anything else from it but it sounds like there's some interesting production and surprises to be expected.

It didn't pain me as much as I thought to put a picture of Lily Allen on my blog either. I do skip her video's on TV because I get worked up when I see what happens to the guy. I don't know why, but I just feel if it was a man doing that to a woman in a video it would cause a storm of criticism and if we want equality via media, it has to apply to both sides. Anyway, my post about her a while back (n.b quick recall all she did was diss my jacket and I made a joke about it on here cause It was a pretty swag insult) provoked a fair bit of response, both here and elsewhere, and people still ask me if there's a part 2 to the story. Well there were a few progressions. Lily Allen called me a wastewoman (on the post) for a start. She also sent me a message on myspace, the day I went on holiday to Greece (note to myself; that needs a post of it's own), suggesting I'd made the toilet incident up. The message also suggested that If I had a problem we should sort it out. I didn't reply as I don't have a problem. I wasn't too pleased with a. being called a wastewoman or b. her suggesting I made it up for fun (that would be an overly weak bit of hype) but I'm not into playground business. My relaying of the story was never intended as a spanner in the works. Nor a criticism of her - I don't even know the girl. Likewise It was nothing to do with the diss being a big deal. I just wanted to highlight the most shallow cuss I'd ever experienced. It bought great amusement, trust me. Understandably if she genuinely didn't remember (for whatever reason) she might have been pissed thinking I was trying to put a slur on her image, but given I don't touch coke and wasn't off my head on the alcopops, there's little doubt in my mind (I wouldn't have written about it otherwise). What was really interesting was some information that sprung to light afterwards. Another comment in her message was along the lines of i've never heard of you before, but according to a mutual associate of ours, she actually suggested she was familiar with my work and couldn't understand why I was writing such things. Said associate suggested she phone me if she was bothered but she obviously wasn't cause I haven't heard a peep since. Should I have received a phone call, I would have asked her where she gets her eyeliner from. That's one thing she's definitely got on lock in my books. I also know that some of the people who commented on the post have since received flack from various people connected to Lily Allen or best friend Miquita Oliver for revealing their own gak accounts or gossip. Since that however, there's been so much juice that's surfaced in the tabloids and other sources that it makes what was written on here overly boring. Naturally I'm interested as much as the next person, Ms Allen seems like a character and a half but the tide will continue to turn if the attention detracts too much from her music. Doing an Amy Winehouse and slating everyone in the game is never a good idea. Being real is one thing but sometimes being real qualifiies as rude, unjust and unprofessional. Let us not forget in this industry, you never know who's friends with who. It's all too easy to get caught up in the hype. I notice that love for Lily Allen in the underground is fairly strong, and although I was a tad surprised given the response Lady Sovereign got (and she's far more genuinely street), I'm not entirely adverse to her music either. I was surprised the album was only 37 minutes in length but their were a couple of tunes on it I would give a reload. Just don't expect to hear gunshots too.