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Review: Jack Foley
THE Ninja Tune label moves into urban territory with Part 2's
Live From The Breadline, a streetwise collection of tracks
that mark the urban scene at its most raw and occasionally compelling.
Part 2 is being billed as urban music's best-kept secret.
As producer for New Flesh, he has already been hailed by the
likes of Sunday Times Culture as 'a master of variety and styles',
while providing remixes for a range of artists, including Roots
Manuva, Ty, Serge Gaisnbourg, Wu-Tang's Killah Priest and Saul
Williams.
Yet now he ventures out of the shadows to deliver an album that's
rife in urban music style, and which features a wide range of
collaborators, from Fallacy, LSK and Sandra Melody to Juice Aleem,
Toastie Tailor and Lotek.
Utterly contemporary, Songs From The Breadline is sure
to appeal to fans of the urban scene, especially those who get
their musical kicks from Roots Manuva, Kano, The Mitchell Brothers
and Roll Deep.
But it's an acquired taste and doesn't really transcend its genre
as well as some of Roll Deep's material.
Tracks to look out for include Concrete Jungle, featuring
a deliciously funky vocal from LSK, and the upbeat Stay Real,
with its catchy chorus, sassy vocals (from Sandra Melody) and
gentle beats.
Elsewhere, however, the album is a little too raw for its own
good, struggling to escape the sound of the streets from where
it was born.
One Of Them Days is very Mitchell Brothers in style,
only harder and less mainstream, while the dub heavy Rose
Tinted Glasses is a little cumbersome and hopelessly Roots
Manuva in style.
Most tracks follow the hard rap path, while a good many also
take a trip into grime territory.
It's during such moments that it completely lost me - although
as grime music goes, it does manage to conjure some good beats,
some quality production values and the usual socially-relevant
lyrics.
Unfortunately, this style of music has to do something a little
bit special (or different) to properly appeal to me.
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Track listing:
1. Will It Ever-Featuring Sandra Melody
2. One Of Them Days-Featuring Fallacy
3. Stay Real-Featuring Sandra Melody
4. Rose Tinted Glasses-Featuring LSK, Tomo And Lotek
5. Chasin'-Featuring Juice Aleem
6. Concrete Jungle-Featuring LSK
7. Sow Seeds-Featuring Sandra Melody And Toastie Taylor
8. Lift Off (Skit)
9. How It Feels-Featuring Juice AleemAand LSK
10. Get Square-Featuring Fallacy
11. Give Them A Piece-Featuring Sandra Melody And Speech
12. Kids (Skit)
13. Take Ur Time-Featuring Juice Aleem
14. Mad Fazes-Featuring Sandra Melody And Lotek
15. Inna Crisis-Featuring Sandra Melody [Bonus Track]
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