Roll Deep: Rules & Regulations review

Artist

Roll Deep

Label

Roll Deep Recordings

Release date

26th March 2007

Genre

Grime

East End grime rhymers throw out the rulebook on exuberant, street-smart return

It almost seems something of a surprise to see East London grime crew Roll Deep putting out a new release – one of two, incidentally, planned for this year. As well as being dropped by Relentless Records last year, leading member Wiley was alleged to be contemplating retirement while dubstep has gradually superseded grime as the sound of choice for the nation’s cool underground kids.

Maybe Roll Deep find strength in numbers for the 13-man combo have returned with a fresh and exuberant mixtape-style soundclash of scattergun rhymes and the heaviest beats. Now free of larger label restrictions, the irony of that title Rules & Regulations becomes hugely clear via the crew’s at times, ramshackle, DIY approach to their tunes. It might not always come off over an arguably superfluous 18 tracks, but it’s a lot of fun and attempts to stretch out beyond the dark confines of grime.

Respect Us and Do This Ting both take the group off into peculiar '80s synth weirdness, the dub-heavy Weed Man manages to both amuse and get heads nodding while the clarinet-led Stampers has something of, get this, If You Go Down To The Woods Today about it - admittedly via Tower Hamlets. The flagship track here, however, is the utterly anti-gun Badman with its killer line "Youths go missing in the system, get banged up like Sonny Liston" – indeed, Roll Deep have been heavily involved with the Met Police’s Stop The Guns campaign.

Alongside Klashnekoff’s recent release, Roll Deep’s mix of the socially conscious and knowingly irreverent, the mixtape approach and spot on production, show British hip-hop starting 2007 in surprisingly rude health.

Also try: Joe Buhdha Presents Klashnekoff: Lionheart - Tussle With The Beast Dizzee Rascal – Showtime Wiley – Treddin’ On Thin Ice