MMIX - MC Mixy’s Mix Tape
Reviewed by Cardinal Cox

Write Dope on Pnuk part 73

MC Mixy is one of the members of Peterborough Hip-Hop collective Locality and he has released a CD MMIX - the Mixture Mix Tape. Twenty-one tracks showcasing his talent and featuring a large number of collaborators.

Now I’m not going to pretend I’m up on the hip-hop scene, I remember when Public Enemy played The Wirrena, got disks by Blak Twang and The Streets but mostly prehistoric stuff by Gil Scott Heron or Last Poets. Locally-related heroes of hip-hop include DJ Tim Westwood (self confessed Alan Partridge of the scene) and The Prodigy’s Maxim Reality. Hey, I might be old and bald on top but I can still enjoy hip-hop.

What I can appreciate is Mixy’s use of language, rhythm and rhyme, my own writing came out of being in bands when I was in my ’teens. Mixy knows how to spin an image so when you think he might be going in one direction, it then swings around. Plus he has a confidence in his own ability, listen to tracks like Rabbit Killer or Balfour Boogie. Not many hip-hop artists would even think about trying a track about a Conservative Prime Minister (1902 to 1905) and later Foreign Secretary.

Since I first met Mixy last year (he set himself on fire – accidentally – halfway through a poetry reading I was giving while I was wearing a dress) he has spread his writing wings by hooking up with the then Peterborough Poet Laureate, playing Leicester’s Summer Sundae festival. They then played the Phrased & Confused tour this May. That saw him reciting on a stage shared with Canadian band Woodpigeon, and top poets Murray Lachlan Young and Aoife Mannix.

Peterborough has an active hip-hop scene and I can only hope that some of them manage to carve reputations for themselves outside the city.

To order MC Mixy’s CD go to myspace.com/Locality27

© All work copyright of Cardinal Cox.