Newtrament - London Bridge Is Falling Down (VLS) (1983) (320 kbps)
The L.A. skateboarding / London electronic musician / DJ & M.C.inspired by Afrika Bambatta & his social consciousness attempted to facilitate any London crew that wanted to get on. Newtrament was founder of Rock Box a precursor to raves an original warehouse jam establish-er with the aid of other warehouse jam crews such as Renegade Soundwave’s Danny, Frank, Karl & Sam Bullawella & also Jeremy Healy and the Circus where he often was to be seen on wheels cutting and scratching along his own formidable Rock Box team M.c Sweet Pea A.K A She Rocker M.C. Dupe Rock Box crew also consisting of the now known prolifically conscious roots artist Ras Simeon Judah, whom along with Fresh ski and not for getting the allusive Doctor Fate A.K.A Cat A.K.A. Leo comprised the nucleus of rock box, Newtrament for quite time was up 7 down visiting his pals in Bristol whilst continuing to be all over north, south & west London originally he had a squatter in stoke Newington , North London for several years then in 1980 he moved to Philadelphia where he saw the Sugarhill records greats performers and immediately became influenced by rap music and the is mostly lies & legend.
Tracklist:
A1 London Bridge Is Falling Down (Extended Version)
A2 London Bridge Is Falling Down (Dub Mix)
B1 London Bridge Is Falling Down (Special Vocoder Mix)
Download:
320 kbps – Wayshare
Unfortunately the links are dead but I did find a working link here:
http://rockthebboystance.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/newtrament-london-bridge-is-falling-down.html
Here is some background info on the single, taken from this incredible essay on UK hip hop/electro/rap:
https://howslifeinlondon.wordpress.com/thesis/
Bertram Johnson, better known as Newtrament, was a London-based DJ who teamed up with MC Sir Drew and DJ Mr Mix12 to record what is widely considered to be the first British rap song London Bridge is Falling Down (Hunter, 1998). Released on Jive in 1984, it was ‘one of the first British tunes to make references to the land of its origins’ through its mention of the ‘boys in blue’ and its message about the state of electoral politics in Britain (Louw, 2007: 210). The ‘cod American accent’, however, was still in effect and would continue to be present in most British releases during the 1980’s as British MC’s continued to wrestle with their own identity and the authenticity of their music. The Newtrament Krew were influential in establishing jams around London that helped further interest in hip-hop and also brought together the small clusters of interest that existed. The London hip-hop scene at this point consisted predominantly of small localised scenes with many people ‘unaware it was going on in other parts of town’ so these jams were important, particularly in Covent Garden which became the ‘first city-wide focal point for hip-hop in the capital’ (HHC Digital, 2009). As well as helping bring the scene together in London, the Newtrament Krew also helped create links between the scenes in London and Bristol, regularly hosting jams with the Wild Bunch in both cities.