Chronik's a pretty intimidating character. Lacking the cartoony nature of Tempz lyrics and posture, something about him always seemed so much more real.
What's interesting about this mixtape is that the guests are left at a minimum, you'd expect that on a debut cd he'd fill it to the brim with other MCs, but he pretty much goes solo from track 9 onwards. It's great to hear though, fans of real, classic grime will love this. The beats are simplistic and hard as fuck, very typical Slew Dem sound, and Chronik spits simplistic, to the point and catchy bars about kicking your head in with his size 10s. There's something really appealling about his flow, especially when he clutters up his bars around one particular word or phrase, it sounds so raw and underground and anti-commercial. Despite the fact that the features are great (Jammer, Skepta, Esco, Wiley and a few others) I actually like this better when Chronik just goes off on his own. You can tell he listens to a lot of ragga and dancehall, infact while I was listening to this I was thinking "I bet he listens to Buju Banton and Sizzla and that sort of thing" and what do you know, there's a Buju Banton sample towards the end.
Domestic Violence is a bit of a misstep, I don't think it fits in so well amongst the others, although the lyrics are brutally honest ("I love you and I still make you cry, what kind of love is that? I love you and I still black your eye, what kind of love is that?"). Otherwise it's strong and mostly consistent though, it's long but never gets boring, stays interesting the whole way through. It's definitely very raw and underground sounding though, so it might not appeal to some, but if you liked Grimetapes' Slew Dem Vol. 1 this is highly recommended.
Oh yeah, and nice Layla sample in the title track.
What's interesting about this mixtape is that the guests are left at a minimum, you'd expect that on a debut cd he'd fill it to the brim with other MCs, but he pretty much goes solo from track 9 onwards. It's great to hear though, fans of real, classic grime will love this. The beats are simplistic and hard as fuck, very typical Slew Dem sound, and Chronik spits simplistic, to the point and catchy bars about kicking your head in with his size 10s. There's something really appealling about his flow, especially when he clutters up his bars around one particular word or phrase, it sounds so raw and underground and anti-commercial. Despite the fact that the features are great (Jammer, Skepta, Esco, Wiley and a few others) I actually like this better when Chronik just goes off on his own. You can tell he listens to a lot of ragga and dancehall, infact while I was listening to this I was thinking "I bet he listens to Buju Banton and Sizzla and that sort of thing" and what do you know, there's a Buju Banton sample towards the end.
Domestic Violence is a bit of a misstep, I don't think it fits in so well amongst the others, although the lyrics are brutally honest ("I love you and I still make you cry, what kind of love is that? I love you and I still black your eye, what kind of love is that?"). Otherwise it's strong and mostly consistent though, it's long but never gets boring, stays interesting the whole way through. It's definitely very raw and underground sounding though, so it might not appeal to some, but if you liked Grimetapes' Slew Dem Vol. 1 this is highly recommended.
Oh yeah, and nice Layla sample in the title track.
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