Roots Manuva
Awfully Deep

THE REVIEW

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.