Traditional

B-Boyz and girlz, rest assured: hip-hop purism is alive and well in the U.K. Artists such as Kalishinikov and Jhest have borrowed the sonic template developed by New York hip-hop artists and transposed their own cultural issues upon it. Much like their counterparts in the U.S. underground, U.K. artists believe in hip-hop in its most unfiltered sonic form, and have concentrated on mastering the basic building blocks of the genre: memorable rhymes and dope beats. They generally work sans consideration of commercial appeal, and their methods of distribution (underground radio, Internet and independent labels such as Low Life) are both organic and effective.