MARC MAC PRESENTS VISIONEERS – DIRTY OLD HIP HOP.

dereksmusicblog ♦ May 29, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

MARC MAC PRESENTS VISIONEERS – DIRTY OLD HIP HOP.

Marc Mac Presents Visioneers – Dirty Old Hip Hop.

Label: Omniverse.

Format: 2 x LP.

In 2006, Marc Mac, one of the founders of the celebrated and pioneering drum n bass and broken beat duo 4hero, released ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ the debut album by his new studio project Visioneers. The album was originally released on BBE, and was billed as Marc Mac Presents Visioneers. ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ was, and remains, an absolute masterclass in the intersection of jazz, hip hop and broken beat.

Twenty years later, and Omniverse have reissued ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop.’ The 20th Anniversary Limited Edition has been pressed on transparent 180g red 12″ vinyl, with an Obi strip. It’s the perfect way to celebrate an album that’s in the history of British hip hop is a timeless classic.

Instead of just chopping up old jazz and soul records to make hip hop beats, Mac takes iconic hip-hop beats and recreates them live with a full studio jazz band. 

Backed by incredible live instrumentation – featuring the crisp, organic drumming of Luke Parkhouse and bass work from Somatik, Mac essentially reverses the sample chain. He meticulously pays homage to legendary producers including  J Dilla, Pete Rock, and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

As albums go, ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ is absolutely flawless and truly timeless. Here’s why:

‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ opens with ‘Replay.’ It’s the perfect opening statement. LA rapper Voice drops crisp, nostalgic bars over an ultra-warm, jazzy backdrop. The lyric: “I never thought when it was played way back, that it would ever get remade in fact” perfectly encapsulates the thesis of the entire album. It’s soulful, welcoming, and sets the definitive mood.

‘Runnin’ is the crown jewel of the album. Recreating J Dilla’s iconic production for The Pharcyde using live instruments is a bold move. However, Visioneers nail it. The double bass drives the track with a fluid, bouncing energy, while acoustic guitar plucks and soaring live strings replicate the Stan Getz samples. The instantly recognisable ‘Runnin'” vocal chant floats over the top, making it a brilliant piece of live band audio translation.

‘Ike’s Mood I’ features vocalist Carina Andersson. It’s a A brilliant, heavy reinterpretation of the Isaac Hayes classic. Andersson’s lush, ethereal vocal harmonies float over an incredibly deep sub-bass groove. The track has a slow, seductive burn to it, trading the cinematic strings of the original Hayes version for a stripped-back, rhythm-first jazz quartet vibe. 

‘The World Is Yours’ is a masterful cover of the Pete Rock-produced Nas classic. Visioneers reverse-engineer the track by heavily featuring live, bright vibraphone and xylophone solos. They pay homage to Ahmad Jamal’s ‘I Love Music,’ which Pete Rock originally sampled. Accompanied by backing chords from the Doris Hill Male Voice Choir, this instrumental is, quite simply, absolute jazz-hop perfection.

‘Funk Box’ features Capital A. This is where the album bridges the gap between classic boom bap and the West London broken beat scene. Capital A delivers a sharp, rhythmic vocal performance over a driving bassline and incredibly snappy snare hits.  The instrumentation is incredibly tight, focusing heavily on a rhythmic pocket that forces your head to nod.

‘It’s Simple’ is a laid-back instrumental built around a beautiful interplay between live double bass, jazz piano chords, and clean, rolling boom bap drums. It showcases Mac’s brilliance as an arranger, and he gives the music plenty of breathing space without ever letting the groove drop.

‘Kamal’s World’ is a brief, but heartwarming interlude featuring the voice of Baby Kamal. It acts as a quick palette cleanser but also manages to maintain the family and community vibes woven throughout ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop.’

On ‘Dirty Old Bossa Nova,’ Mac flips Howard Roberts’ jazz-guitar track. It  was famously sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on ‘Jam.’ This track leans heavily into a syncopated, uptempo Brazilian rhythm. The percussion expands beyond a standard drum kit into shakers and agogô bells, blending classic jazz-bossa with a rugged hip hop bassline.

‘Smoker’ sounds like it steps deep into a smokey, late-night jazz club atmosphere. It features a heavy doses of live Moog synthesiser, walking basslines, and intricate drumming. Once again, it highlights the high standard of musicianship of Mac’s studio collaborators, Parkhouse and Somatik. 

‘Run for Cover’ is a fast-paced, breakbeat-heavy track that nods directly to Marc Mac’s roots in the UK dance and broken-beat scenes. The drums are relentless and crisp, colliding beautifully with sharp jazzy horn stabs and driving bass hooks. 

’55 Dollars’ is a smooth, mid-tempo instrumental driven by a gorgeous, rhythmic piano loop. The track builds slowly, adding layers of subtle percussion and live bass. It feels like a lost underground beat tape track from 1994, brought to life by a live band who seamlessly lock into a groove for four magical minutes. 

On ‘Paul’s Guitar Story’ the spotlight is on crisp, jazzy guitar work. It pairs beautifully with a soulful double-bass line and soft, snapping drums. It is incredibly mellow and acts as a brilliant exhibition of subtle, expressive instrumentation. Quite simply, this is one of the highlights of the album.

The best way to describe ‘Rollin’ For The Ride’ is a breezy, sun-drenched track that perfectly suits an early evening summer drive. The groove relies on a rolling, effortless rhythm section and bright melodic accents that keep the energy light, optimistic, and deeply soulful. 

Deeply nostalgic, wistful and melancholy describes ‘Days Gone By. It features lush, dreamlike and ethereal keys and an incredibly tight drum break. It acts as a sonic bridge looking back at the history of the genre. Its raison d’être is to maintain a beautiful balance between old school grit and polished musicianship. This it does effortlessly.

Closing ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ on a high is The album closes out on a high note with ‘Hip Know Cypher.’ It’s an all-out jazz-funk jam session. The drums are loose and live, the bass-line wraps around your chest, and the musicians exchange brilliant, tasteful solos without ever overindulging. It wraps up the album by emphasising the core message: hip-hop and jazz are part of the exact same lineage.

On ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop,’ Marc Mac reimagined hip hop breaks and beats and placed them into grooves that paid  homage to the track from which those beats were originally sampled. In 2006, this was groundbreaking and innovative. It was a postmodern approach to making hip hop and resulted in what I earlier referred to as a timeless British hip hop classic. I would go further and say it’s a timeless genre classic. It’s more than hip hop though. This is hip hop combined with broken beat and jazz.  

This wasn’t sleepy “dinner jazz.” No way. The interplay between the double bass lines and the punchy drum breaks keeps the raw energy of boom bap hip hop alive. However, there’s more to ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ than this.

Mac’s love of jazz and how it has influenced him shines through. This includes fusion. Sometimes, though, fusion albums can sometimes get lost in self-indulgent solos. Not here. Instead, Mac keeps the compositions tight, focused, and structured around the neck-snapping loops hip hop heads adore and appreciate.  They play their part in the success of ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop.’

Twenty years after its release, ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ still has the ability to bridge generations. It’s an album that can easily function as a laidback, late-night wind-down soundtrack or can get a dance-floor moving at a nu-jazz or broken beat night. ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ also transcends eras as it relies upon authentic, elite musicianship and timeless source material rather than the digital production trends of 2006. That’s why ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ sounds just as fresh today as it did twenty years ago.

Unlike other hip hop artists, Visioneers didn’t doesn’t just copy the past. Far from it. They were and still are pioneers, and took the past, reimagined it, and breathed new, vibrant and acoustic life into it. The result was ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop,’ their critically acclaimed debut album which is truly is a timeless classic. 

For anyone with even a passing interest in hip hop, ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ is an essential addition to your collection. Especially if you’re a fan of J Dilla, Madlib and Tribe Called Quest. Quite simply, ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop’ is a musical masterclass from Marc Mac and friends, and was the first chapter in the Visioneers’ story.

Visioneers went on to release two further studio albums, 2012s ‘Hipology’ on BBE and 2024s ‘Def Radio’ on Omniverse. Both albums were released to plaudits and praise, and like ‘Dirty Old Hip Hop,’ showcase a truly talented musical pioneer at the peak of his powers. This triumvirate of albums by Visioneers deserves a place in the collection of anyone who has an interest or love of hip hop, broken beat or jazz. 

Marc Mac Presents Visioneers – Dirty Old Hip Hop.