|
|
March 28th, 2006 by Eric K (Permalink)
Label: All City Year: 2006 Add Comments |
“Brapp, Brapp!” Enter, little Derek Safo aka Sway. Hitting the Grime scene in a whirl of bitingly cynical and hillarious mixtapes last year, Sway has quickly joined with Lady Sovereign as UK Garage’s gutter royals. Articulate, self-effacing and, often side-splittingly funny, Sway is the urchin antithesis to everything Hip Hop has become under the jewel-laden hands of 50 Cent and Jay-Z. Possessing the sardonic wit of Roots Manuva, the playground jokery of Dizzee Rascal and the ascerbic cynicism that could only be the product of a North London youth, the record is brimming with laugh-out-loud one-liners (even the skits are funny!). But it’s when Sway sets his sights on society’s mores and ills that his gift of the gab is put to its most devastating effect. Despite being loaded with the obligatory sugar-sweet R&B chorus that lurks in even the grimiest of the Grime, Pretty Ugly Husband is a haunting portrayal of domestic violence that hits harder than a dozen HEBS ads. In Rap, Race and Reality, Chuck D calls Rap “the Black CNN”. By which I don’t think he means it’s the vehicle for fundamentalist Republicans to peddle their quasi-religious, corporate back-slapping dogma, but that it’s a voice on the world’s largest soapbox for a still under-represented and oppressed minority. In the capable hands of this street-wise anchorman, the call will soon be heard.
Purchase or search for related items:
