rap
Oslo World review - a dizzying selection of high-tech, grassroots global brillianceWednesday, 09 November 2022
The Oslo World organisers are at pains to point out that, despite the name, they are not a “world music” festival. And with good reason, really. There may have been a few familiar WOMAD veterans headlining over the week-long event – Senegal’s... Read more... |
Album: Loyle Carner - HugoThursday, 20 October 2022
You’ll want to love Loyle Carner. There’s so much about what he gives and how he delivers it that’s disarming, charming, brilliant even. His lyrics across this album are very obviously from the heart and took real courage to hammer into shape. He... Read more... |
Machine Gun Kelly, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - fire and fury from pop punk convertMonday, 10 October 2022
If ever a moment summed up the spirit of a gig perfectly, then it is the segment in this arena showcase where Machine Gun Kelly is confronted by the internet, represented by what appears to be a blow up statue with a monitor for a head. As it... Read more... |
Album: Aitch - Close to HomeThursday, 18 August 2022
22 is a pretty young age to be jaded. But this album starts out with Mancunian rapper Aitch detailing how tough it is at the top, and how traumatised he is by life: "sitting on my throne with an open stare / 'cause to me it's just a broken chair".... Read more... |
Album: Lizzo - SpecialSaturday, 16 July 2022
You can’t really blame Lizzo for playing to her strengths. When she started putting out records some nine years ago, there wasn’t really a niche in the market for a flute playing, twerking, positive-thinking, plus-size rapper-stroke-disco-diva.... Read more... |
Bangers, Soho Theatre review - sizzling gig theatreWednesday, 22 June 2022
Is gig theatre the latest sugar rush? Okay, it ups the brain’s serotonin levels and charges around your body like a crazy electric current, but amid the joyous nerve reactions does the music speak louder than the words?These questions won’t bother... Read more... |
Transgressive Records showcase, The Great Escape, Brighton review - five acts offer intriguing pop alternativesSaturday, 14 May 2022
Onstage at The Old Market in Hove, New York’s Mykki Blanco has been waving around a knot of garlic bulbs as if it were a wand or occult aspergillum. At some point during Blanco’s punchy rendition of 2016 single “Loner”, or possibly the dizzier “... Read more... |
Album: Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & the Big SteppersSaturday, 14 May 2022
Kendrick Lamar is so breathlessly revered it’s sometimes hard to pull apart what’s going on in his records. It’s sometimes felt like he might become the rap game Radiohead: exploratory, aware, hugely technically accomplished, endlessly thematically... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2021: Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be IntrovertThursday, 30 December 2021
It was two female artists who mainly soundtracked 2021 for me. And they couldn’t be more different. Although Off Off One by Kate Stables (aka This is the Kit) was recorded just before Covid changed everything, there are some ominous mentions in the... Read more... |
Album: Young Thug - PunkMonday, 18 October 2021
From underground curiosity to cult icon, now label head and superstar, Atlanta’s Young Thug has continued to reinvent himself, as well as rap at large, for the better part of a decade. After being announced over two years ago, his new album Punk is... Read more... |
Album: Lil Nas X - MonteroFriday, 17 September 2021
Lil Nas X is good at being a pop star. Like, what could pop culture need more than a young, flamboyant, witty gay rapper from the deep south who can top the US country charts then just when it appeared he might not be able to live up to the success... Read more... |
Album: AJ Tracey - Flu GameFriday, 16 April 2021
AJ Tracey is one of Brit rap’s aristocracy now. Along with the likes of Stormzy, Dave, J Hus and lately Headie One, he is massively bankable, with streams in the tens of millions for singles, sellout shows in Alexandra Palace, and radio ubiquity. It... Read more... |
