klashnekoff-lionhearttusslewiththebeast music reviews Virgin Media
Homegrown hip hop still struggles somewhat to find its own voice. The criminally underrated Roots Manuva aside, British rap has tended towards aping American counterparts too closely to matter, or has simply split off into such other, more vibrant genres as garage or grime. As for your Just Jacks and Jamie Ts, the hip hop/rap element is more a side issue within a white boy, postmodern merging of street influences, rather than them being what you might term genuine British hip hop artists.
Which is why this collaboration is so hotly anticipated, conjoining as it does two of the UK's most promising hip hop heads. Nottingham producer and beat-wiz Joe Buhdha has already worked with such luminaries as Talib Kweli, Estelle and John Legend. Here, he reveals an ability to switch from a laid-back, g-funk style to jumping, club-friendly bangers with ease while both samples and beats never stray into tedium. Buhdha is especially strong on atmospherics and recalls the likes of Jeru The Damaja, Mos Def and Ghostface in his use of piano and strings.
All this provides the backdrop to the undoubted star of the show. Klashnekoff, or K-Lash to his mates in his Terra Firm crew, is an MC from Hackney with a memorable style tipped for big things. Of Jamaican extraction, K-Lash allows his reggae background (check that album title for instance) to shine through (alongside many of Buhdha's reggae samples) and directs his thoughts more towards a general unhappiness with "Babylon" and rhyming in vivid metaphors than any specific gang warring or criminal activities. What's more, K-Lash can shift his style to fit the tough and funky Terrorise The City and Two Guns Blazing, as well as more smoothly soulful cuts as My Life and Rest Of Our Lives - even blending in seamlessly with the dub echo and roots vibe of Refuse To Die.
Buhdah and K-Lash may not be genre-busting or defining any kind of brand new sound per se. However, this is the first confident British hip hop album for some time and it is surely no coincidence that reggae, a genre so much more important musically in the UK than in the US, plays such a prominent role in its success. Destined to please the already converted, as well as those nosing around the state of homegrown rap, Lionheart... points the way forward for a scene still finding its feet.
