I bought this through UK iTunes as it's not available in the US, which I'm finding is not an uncommon experience. Double album, 16 tracks, straight up UK hip hop 90s revival. Proper scratching, tuff production and aggressive rapping in full effect here. It's good.
Blak Twang can certainly rap, London style and I don't think this is his only entry in the list. The problem with the record, if it has one is the number of tracks - while it's really good it sometimes feel like a big mass of music rather than something a little more nuanced. Kik Off is great - a big smack round the face of production and fierce rhyming that chugs along. This was my exiting Oakland BART music de jour this week. The following track is full on Harry Love, all US style production and cuts and stabs. Again good.
A 2005 appearance from Estelle (Est'elle). She's not the only guest and there's an awful track with Lisa I'anson later on - none more mid noughties. The album chugs along at a good pace from there - solid cuts, good rhyming and it's mostly up tempo. There's a bizarre skit track which involves someone shouting that someone looked like a monkey. And from there it fades to an end.
So, overall, this is a hard one and I don't think I really got the measure of it - I've been bunged up (or stuffed up as they say here) all week and I've certainly given this a lot of listens but it's not really impressed itself on me. Most tellingly - I have not picked out any lyrics yet which is a sure sign that a rap record has got under my skin. Now it's the turn of the Stereo MCs of all things - remember them?
Anyway here's the Kik Off video:
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