HERITAGE: J Spades & Margs Link Up For This Early Street Anthem "Warriors" (2010)

HERITAGE: J Spades & Margs Link Up For This Early Street Anthem "Warriors" (2010)


July 05, 2022

Among true, dyed-in-the-wool, rain-or-shine rap fans, Mashtown's name is synonymous with the era of road rap that wrote a lot of the rules for the scene.

Between them, Margs, J Spades, Hypo (RIP), Asco, and the rest of Mashtown, helped carve out rap's identity when no one outside of the very core was watching. At a time when grime was enjoying its second and third wave, this crew was putting together mixtapes that were the groundwork to influence rappers today.

Of that, Margs and J Spades' "Warriors" has stood the test of time as a road rap anthem revered by newer gen rappers like Nines and Mist. It also came at a time when a lot of people were starting to use Auto-Tune to try and give their music some high-end polish. On this one Margs and J Spade's Auto-Tuned vocals sound polished, but it contrasts dramatically against their unbelievably raw lyrics about road life, street politics, and the matter-of-fact harshness of their words.

Over a decade later and they're still imitated...



Photography: Zek Snaps


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