Hackney held a big 2012 party this weekend: One Carnival celebrated the borough’s role at the centre of the Olympic universe in 4 years’ time. After many hours of will-he-won’t-he, Busta Rhymes did. Perform at his gig that is. He’d been detained by British immigration officials. There has been a surge in the number of abandoned doggies on the streets of London, especially the more dangerous varieties. Sex in Islington Green is a seven-days-a-week......

This Sunday, rap fans will pay their respect to late hip-hop producer J-Dilla at Cargo in Shoreditch. DJs including Shortee Blitz, Marc Mac and DJ Spin Doctor will be bumping favourites from Dilla's back catalogue in an event held to honour his life and legacy. Born James Yancey, and also known as Jay Dee, Dilla was the "producer's producer": feted by the likes of Kanye and Pharrell, he was one of the most influential......

The epic new Bloc Party single is out there on the internet. It's called The Prayer and it's the first single from February's A Weekend In The City. We are glad to have heard it because we were quite frankly more than a little worried when Kele started saying things like: "The initial idea came from watching the Busta Rhymes video for 'Touch It', where there are these young majorettes that are going through......