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Rating:
Roots Manuva is a tough one.
One of the flagship names of the new English hip-hop, someone who does his dirty work supremely without the media overexposure of various 'Streets' or 'Dizzee Rascal'. His style is as approachable as the defiant grime and some of the more classic UK hip-hop crews (first and foremost the historic Stereo MC's), and he releases his second album "Awfully deep" for Big Dada, a record label that's an institution in the alternative hip-hop landscape.
And this work of his has all it takes to become a milestone of the genre (and beyond). The quality standard is sky-high throughout the album: from the initial emphasis of "Mind 2 emotion", where our man's rich rapping is showcased, also revealing some raggamuffin nuances, to the dark and ultra-distorted conclusion of "Toothbrush". The sound is very clean and noticeable in tracks like "Colossal insight" (first single released) marked by an acidic and annoying beat, or in the lazy and syncopated "Too cold". However, the supreme peak of this album is "A haunting": a type of ragga-blues that unrolls hypnotically between distant percussion and horns.
Once again, the Jamaican substrate genetic and cultural of "Roots" is clearly present; while in the following "Rebel heart", the drum'n'bass influence is felt in the layering of sounds typical of the rap and electronic meeting/clash that occurred in the latter half of the nineties in the United Kingdom (the first to come to mind are the APC).
But all the tracks are more than remarkable (even those closer to a divertissement like the short but alluring "Pause 4 cause") and confirm Mr. Manuva as one of the most talented and intelligent artists in all of the new millennium's black music.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Colossal Insight (03:45)
[Chorus - Roots Manuva *singing*]
Collosal Insight {Collosal, man}
Invites the soul {Inviting of the soapbox}
Sturdy after good food {More sturdy}
Collosal Insight {Collosal!}
Invites the soul {Inviting thy soul}
Sturdy after good food
[Verse 1]
Gracious Lord, my mega oh mighty!
I know I been slightly, out your path
Feelin' the cold draft,of the bleek winter
Splinters in my soul, I'm out of control
and I know, that I should cut down this drinkin'
Too many late nights and, wayward thinkin'
Compellin' a man to plan to shennanigans
The boy in me out and I got to be the man again
'cause I didn't rhyme to get me rich
but I'm a scally, two two's you'll find I switch
Hurt and pain made me, nothin' came to save me
I walk with disaster, prefer to be plastered
'times my master don't ask me for jack turd
all I owns is my balls and my word
No-body heard'a me, 'cause I'm a new man
I got this new plan, to get these new grams
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
People call my name like, it's some kinda game like
I ain't got no fame like, I'm just the same type
Shoutin' out vain lights - "Move ya lurgy"
I'm far too nervy, observin' this world
Who the? Where the? What the? How the?
Media 'ores keep, shovellin' powder
It's nothin' to be proud of, but stuff goes on
Perceptions change, wrong's right an' right's wrong
Hoopla-hooblahing, devil keeps snarlin'
Bite-bites and it's sellin' more more more
This could well'a be my, last LP
I've had a good run, I've made a few G's
I've had a bag of fun, I've smoked a few trees
Now I wanna rest my, knobbly knees
All in all I been feelin' the pinch
and those bourgeois blacks have been far from convinced
but, I don't give a damn about UK rap
I'm a UK black makin' UK tracks
and, I got love for everyone of them scenes
and them pigeon-holes were never nothin' to hold me
[Chorus]
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