Ten years is quite a long time really. Ten years ago from now, Tony Blair had just come into power promising all sorts, Biggie was shot dead, Princess Di died and Nintendo brought out the N64. A long time has passed since then but one thing that has remained a constant since all those events took place is the continued brilliance of Big Dada.
The label was started by hip hop journalist Will Ashon as an imprint of the ever-popular and boundary pushing Ninja Tune and made sure that everyone knew it wasn’t a label for British hip hop, it was a British label which had hip hop on it. In the ten years it has been going, Big Dada has put out amazing record after amazing record and this DVD is a testament to that fact.
A 30 minute documentary which features Diplo, Mike Ladd, Juice Aleem, Roots Manuva, TTC, Ty and more talking about why they love their home label is an interesting and informative watch allowing the artists to express both their gratitude for being given a chance to shine and also their feelings on why the label has thrived so much.
It’s not just the documentary that you get with this DVD however, you get every single video ever released by the label, around 30 in all, for your viewing pleasure. See Roots Manuva go back to school for Witness (1 Hope), Infinitive Livez‘ Adventure Of A Lactating Man [if you’ve not seen this, get ready for weirdness] and other classic joints. As if that wasn’t enough, there is also a half hour megamix by System-D 128 of the videos which packs a real punch.
Big Dada has gone from strength to strength in its 10 years and the signs on this brilliant DVD are that there is a hell of a lot more to come. Happy Birthday BD, long may you continue!
Abjekt