Every now and again, a rap record comes along that effortlessly walks the line between street-tough, gangsta grit and charming, disarming humour and intelligence. Think Nas or Gravediggaz' first records, or Blueprint-to-the-Black Album era Jay-Z; confident, hungry, quotable and immersive music that you can listen to on repeat and lose yourself in for days. We're pretty sure we've found one of these records, and in comes in the shape of 'True Hollywood Squares' by LA rapper Kail.

The buzz started in his hometown, on the streets of South Central Los Angeles, Compton, away "from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's sh*t" and smack in the middle of the "real motherf*cking tinsel town," in the "shady hiding spots for all the crooks from the sets." Although Kail and his crew Customer Services are at the virtuosic level of MCing required to be a part of the Good Life cafe scene, it was soon noticed that Kail's tracks could also be heard creeping out of the windows of the kind of cars you don't cut up as they crawled through South Central LA, the streets Kail calls home.

Despite mutterings in the background along the lines of 'this generation's Ice Cube', Kail is 100% his own man. His personality leaps from the speakers with every bar, his character rap will have the toughest listener collapse in the deepest belly-laughs, and essentially he just has that thing, that extra something, that screams 'star.'

We're very pleased to announce that Kail has joined the Big Dada ranks as of 2008, and now we just can't wait for you to hear the album. Out on April 21st, 'True Hollywood Squares' re-imagines the iconic gameshow of the title through the eyes of, amongst others, an embittered ghetto tour guide, an underage beauty just perfect for increasing your Myspace friend requests, and a down and out former casting agent. Along the way there's an angry mother leaving messages, a howling epic of true love and a freaky, camera shy pimp. Kail's chameleon-like voice explores this colourful array, dancing nimbly over self-produced thumps, bleeps and samples that make other most other rap music sound archaic.

'True Hollywood Squares' is a stone cold classic, the kind of record you play to people who don't like hip-hop just to watch them convert. This is exactly the kind of rapper who makes disciples.

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