Review: The Movement

The Movement came through with some of the biggest mixtapes of 2006, including the likes of Scorcher, Mercston and Ghetto. The thought of all these guys on one record should have had me drawing for the credit card as soon as Tempo Specialists dropped, but there was something about the chatter of chipmunk vocal samples and sanitised grime that put me off.

My mistake though, cos it's actually pretty hot. There are more than a few chipmunk vocals on here, but at least The Movement make the style their own. R 'n' G tunes are usually a mixtapes weakest point, but The Movement lads are on point with it here. Whisper is an interesting take on the ballardy end of the genre, dropping some original lyrics about taking a girl back to your mum's place...

Criticisms are the usual aimed at Grime artist's mixtapes and for a start there's not enough Grime. Most of the tunes sound like HipHop to me. As usual the diamonds are well lost in the rough and there's a fair bit of a fight to separate the wheat (Actual Artist, Whisper, Can't Go On) from the chaff.

Perhaps not up there with their best individual efforts, but worth a look despite the chipmunk invasion. Grab it off of Juno or UK Record Shop.

Review: Tunnel Vision 5

Wiley knows how to create some hype. Had Tunnel Vision come out last week, it wouldn't have been all that, but dropping this in the same week as accouncing his retirement from the scene gives it a strange importance.

Sorry Sorry, Pardon, What? kicks off the album the way we've come to expect from Wiley and particularly this mixtape series. It's full of the energy and hyped up MC-ing that's so common in his recent output. Just to re-inforce the point, two war dubs aimed at Newham Generals and Nasty Jack follow. But then the tone starts to change and we see the otherside of Wiley - the guy who's been trying make it big for the scene and push things forward, with very little help and limited success. Tracks like One Line Flow, and Don't Do It, make these frustrations clear, with Wiley poking fun at his label mates and the scene he helped create on the former and asking those without their heart in it to give up on Don't Do It.

It's the following two R&G esque tracks that are the most revealing though. Sister Sister, like Friday Night off of 2nd Phaze, is one of those rare glimpses into the man behind the hype MC. With regard to his recent retirement, this tune illustrates the pressures on the MC from outside the game, the personal and family stuff. Paranoid Remix follows in a similar vein, albeit about love problems and that.

The thing that really comes across is that despite all these problems, Wiley can't stop. On Sister Sister he chats about carrying on the family tradition of music, started by his Father. He still talks about making it big in the future and being able to travel the world with his family. With these things in mind it seems unlikely Wiley would be happy taking a backseat in the progress of the scene.

Of course Wiley's constant references to his Ice-cold nature are intact as ever. As he reminds us on Paranoid Remix, Wiley's a clever guy. He's not scared to play with hype:

"I'm a dangerous boy and when it comes to cheating I'm cold like she is"

To my mind this is the best of the Tunnel Vision series. Truesay there are throwaway bits on there but taking this record in conjunction with Wiley's retirement announcement on Monday makes for some facinating listening. I'll put money on seeing Wiley back on the mic sooner rather than later.

Review: Rules & Regulations

Rules & Regulations is A LOT.

Having blown it slightly with In At The Deep End, it was important Roll Deep came back with a big record and this is it.

Danny Weed, Target and Wiley have served up a wicked range of productions for a start. It's kind of old-school Grime, in the sense that the tracks aren't overloaded with squeaky chipmunk vocals. There are also some references to styles past such as the "sino-grime" infused Celebrate produced by Danny Weed. Even the token R&G tracks are heavy. Ride or Die Chick is reminiscent of Dizzee's downtempo track Imagine off of Showtime and Floating Thru The Sky produced by Chunky Bizzle provides welcome respite from the albums aggressive sound at the halfway point.

The most impressive thing about this mixtape is its consistency. While there are a few stand out tracks like Badman and Babylon Burner, the rest hold up well too. Special mentions should go to tunes like Do Dis Ting and Pen Pals, which retain a slight pop flavour from the Relentless days, but don't compromise the grime sound.

Little needs to be said about the quality of Roll Deep's MCs. The addition of Skepta to this album is definitely beneficial, with him dropping particularly big bars on Do Dis Ting. Elsewhere Riko holds down the chorus on Pen Pals well and Scratchy and Breeze add a nice finishing verse to Babylon Burner. All in all it's the show of talent you'd expect from a crew of this calibre.

If there is criticism to be had it would merely be the contradictions of the lyrical content. While Roll Deep are to be commended for producing a quality edutainment track in the form of Badman, some of the subsequent gun lyrics jar somewhat. Given that Roll Deep seem so aware of the dangers of gun crime it does seem strange that there are still boasts of rolling with guns. This is a minor criticism in the context of the album though, as Badman has it's influence elsewhere in the media world.

Roll Deep have started the year with a bang. Hopefully this will force others to up their game, and if so we're in for quite a year.