Konnichiwa

Sayonara.

Constantly amused by American adhering so closely to their stereotypes in these reviews! Absolutely deserves it's place on this list because: 1. It's fucking awesome 2. It's took grime to the next level commercially, creating space for the UK rap derivatives that are still dominating the UK charts to this day 3. The list is not an American list.

Grime is a fun genre and this is a good album. As with most rap, I really don't need the skits. I get it, it's a fundamental part of the genre. But really, I cannot imagine a single person on the planet earth who is like "oh yeah I loved that skit off that rap album" CUT EM OUT OF ALL RAP ALBUMS

The ting goes skrrrahh (Ah) Pap, pap, ka-ka-ka (Ka-ka) Skidiki-pap-pap (Pap) And a pu-pu-pudrrrr-boom (Boom) Skya (Ah) Du-du-ku-ku-dun-dun (Dun) Poom, poom You don' know

Konnichiwa. Well, alright, that's it. The final album. Maybe a more poetic end to the journey would have been a British psychedelic post-punk album from the 80s featuring cameos by Neil Young and Elvis Costello. But I guess some weird album I've never heard of, where the only review I can muster is the 500th new way of saying "Who fucking cares, 2/5", is the second best thing. See you all in the next life. Thanks for all the great albums I've discovered through this list, all the hilarious and interesting reviews I've had the pleasure to read, the fun Reddit discussions, and thank you to everybody who liked my dumb drivel enough to give it a thumbs up - especially for all the love that "Kollaps" review got (still the lowest rated album though 😞). I've now heard all of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, but the most important thing, the thing I'm most glad I got to hear before I died, was the story about the boys in Dresden getting head from a fat goth lady. Who fucking cares, 2/5. Sayonara.

I'm glad that's over. At first I thought, ok, I can get through this, it's not too horrible, but as it went on I started hating it more and more. I don't enjoy rap to begin with but something about British rap just makes me cringe. 2 stars for the effort.

Absolute trash that this album is on here and many American hip-hop/rap albums are missing. I don’t need to listen to it just because it’s British. Such a biased author. It’s disgusting how biased this list it towards British albums that are average at best.

At first, I was like, "Hey, that's different and interesting" and then I was like, "hmmm, these are all starting to sound the same" and then I was like, "Skits? Really? I thought we were past this as a genre." Overall, it was exactly alright. The good balances the bad and averages out to a "meh" 3-star score.

I could not wait for this to be done. Not only bad. Intrusive. Obnoxious.

"Two plus two is four / Minus one that's three QUICK MATHS"

Lyrics were meh, British accent - noice

Made me feel like I was in a Guy Ritchie movie

This style of music is just so uninteresting to me

Classic grime, definite high points with Shutdown and That’s Not Me but every song slaps.

I really don't understand why this is on the list, it adds nothing that wouldn't be added by any other mid-10s trap album. The songs are average at best and downright cringey at worst. I don't usually agree that albums get added to the book purely because they're British, but I can't really disagree in regards to this album. I'm probably biased because I don't like the Roadman subculture which, to me, just seems to be British youths pretending to be what the American gangsta rappers of old actually were. "Trying to not get killed by police" bruh you live in London, not fucking LA.

This shit hit hard as fuck. Definitely going into the rotation.

I really forgot how amazing this album is. Soooo nostalgic for me. Bangers on bangers on bangers. Amaze!!!

Guess I don’t like this flavour of rap, either.

Personally, I find this album to be phenomenal but I can understand why Americans might not find it as appealing. For me, this is one of (if not the) best grime albums of all time and absolutely warrants a spot on this list.

Fond memories of Chad putting this on at a veeeeeery deep point of the 2016 splendor session. TRUST ME DADDY

Konnichiwa I know very little grime uk Hip Hop outside Dizzee Rascal and Stormzy, so I was interested to give this a listen. There are some great boom bap-ish beats and excellent dancey, synthy hooks, and I really like his delivery, where Britishisms and British cultural references abound. Fam. Lyrically I’m not sure I’m totally on the right wavelength with all of it, but for all the confrontational stuff there’s a lot about family, fame, relationships with a degree of sadness, and some great wry little lines in things like the excellent That’s Not Me, Man and Text Me Back, and he has a great, sharp delivery. Like a lot of hip hop albums, I don’t understand the point of the skits and spoken word bits, they’re hard to listen to and the disrupt the flow and feel of otherwise great tracks like Corn on the Curb and Crime Riddim’ Hook and beat wise, I love the string/synth riff on It Ain’t Safe and the gurgling squiggles on That’s Not Me. The bassy Numbers is great and there’s another great synth part on Man I’ve listened to this a lot, I was happy to let it go round and round as it got better with each listen, so much so I think it just nudges into a 4 👋👋👋👋 Playlist submission: That’s Not Me

A very fun, even if slightly dated, timestamp of 2010’s culture that will have you vibing the whole runtime. I enjoyed the singles here, even if the in between stuff was somewhat forgettable.

I listened before bed and didn't really care for it. Too much bass. But I listened again (and on a different speaker system) and liked it more. Gonna try it the next time I drive somewhere

HE SAMPLED QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

This is one I’ll have to sit in and give another listen later. I’m not super up on my Brit rap, it’s a different style, different rap scheme. I never cared for some of the other Brit rappers, but I do like this guy. The American rap influences are present with talks of gangs, bitches, drugs and arrogance. Themes I think are week and cliche, but Skepta makes up with a lot of this with nuanced skill and expertly crafted beats. I really liked Numbers. I think others would grow on me.

I'm rating it this low very begrudgingly. UK grime is so good, and this is such a poor representation of it. The highlights of this album are all songs that were originally released as one-off singles, and it shows. I think Skeptas brother JME is far more talented and releases much more interesting music than Skepta. Dizzee Rascal too. It's a shame because this album is a real nostalgia trip for me, and I don't hate it, but it should have been an EP and better albums could have taken it's place

Why do all Brit’s sound like wussies

Why is there so much of this on the list? This was crap.

Good fucking energy rangabangtingtang

the skit with every other word punctuated with “fam” zeros in precisely to the year 2016. sounds like my classroom that year. especially Liam in 2nd period. i don’t know whether he said “fam” or “on god” more, but i overdosed on those words within a week

I'm a casual rap/hip hop fan at best and still just barely familiar with the grime genre. That said, I don't know enough about the genre to really assess if this is top of the top or not, but I did enjoy this album all the same.

Hab aktuell keine Motivation, gute Sachen hier zu schreiben. Fand es langweilig und eintönig. Britischer Rap klingt aber oftmals cool. Hat mich leider nicht abgeholt.

It was interesting, not really my style. One song made me stop listening to it and go find Queens of the Stone Age.

Flunssahuuruissa meni enemmän kuin ohi. Pari kertaa yritin pyöräyttää uusiksi muttei vaan tarttunut. En tiedä kummassa oli vika lopulta.

Ihan laadukas setti, mut tyyli ei mitenkään erityisesti puhutellu

I mean… meh? I find it very confusing that the album title is Konnichiwa but then it’s full of very British rap. I like the album cover though.

The beats? Flat. The lyrics? Repetitive. Skepta might think he’s spitting razor-sharp truths, but half the time it sounds like he’s just circling the same clichés: fame is hard, the streets are real, trust nobody. Congratulations—you’ve reinvented the wheel, only this one’s made of cardboard, you dick.

lol I can’t take rappers with a British accent seriously, sorry it just sounds wrong to my American ear After all, we did invent the form so can you really blame me?

Rap with British accents will just never sound right to me.

I don’t know much about hip hop but this is stupid.

British rap at its finest. Got some Black on Both Sides vibes.

Nostalgic af

After that terrible album by The Streets I got recently, I dreaded seeing another British rap album on the list. Thankfully this proved to be a banger, with the only knock on it being skits that just felt like a waste of time. I can see myself going back to this one and checking out more from Skepta. 4.5 / 5

Slaps.

Oddly, I like a lot of Grime when I'm exposed to it and yet I never seem to seek it out. This was good. I really liked it. Flows were good. I could have used more production on the music side of things but that's a minor nitpick. I still really don't get the obsession with Japanese culture. It's rather cringe but doesn't get in the way enough to be a huge issue. Wu Tang had the same problem.

Have always liked this album, especially love the bass 9/10

Dang good stuff going on across the pond.

Red vinyl on the TT. Marvellous.

This was pretty good. Good beats and the lyrics work.

yeah I used to wear lv I put it all in the bin

wagwan roadmen my mum don't know your mum stop telling man you're my cousin act like a wasteman and only rate this ting 4 stars? that's not me trusssss me daddy

Probably the most important album to the entire genre of grime next to Boy in Da Corner. Extremely biased review because I was 17 when this came out, where It Ain't Safe, Shutdown, and That's Not Me were a staple of every house party I went to for my late teens. If you didn't have the privilege of hearing songs from this album at house parties you went to, you either weren't cool enough, or didn't live in AU/UK. Suck shit. I have no ills with this album, this is grime perfection. I'm not surprised this album is rated so poorly on this site. Though it's mostly yanks winging., there are some valid criticisms, but those criticisms reflect on the genre itself rather than this record. Grime isn't for everyone. That's was the whole point until Stormzy ruined it by selling out and making music with that greasy ginger cunt Ed Sheeran. Now it's a household name and the genre is ruined forever. Much like mainstream hip-hop in the US, Grime is no different nowadays. You absolutely fucked it, Stormzy. Skepta's booming voice really stands out, but it's the production that really makes this album. The latter of the half has some of the filthiest production I'd ever heard on a hip-hop song. Man, Shutdown, and ESPECIALLY That's Not Me - one of the most sampled grime songs of all time. Which itself was a sample of another early grime song. That's Not Me is probably the song that defines this album, and probably is the biggest grime song of all time up to that point. In fact, I think it still is the biggest & most impactful grime song of all time. If you can't tell, I enjoy the fuck out of that song, and considering the amount of artists that sample or rap over the beat, I dare say I'm not wrong. Like I said, grime isn't for everyone - but if you like grime, you definitely recognise that this is probably one of the most important albums to come out of the genre, if not THE most. I don't think any Grime artist has been able to replicate an album like this, nor will they. This defined what grime is at the time, and will always be remembered as so. Well deserved 5. It's a shame this is probably one of two grime albums on here, but I understand, it's not everyone's cup of marmalade or whatever the fuck it is they say. /end biased review.

I don't know anything about grime, as a white 53yr old never been my thing, but after listening to this and looking up the prison population stats and stop and search I get the anger. We live in a country that promote British values, and as a teacher I do this but these only really apply to white people. This is a well made album and dwarves 4 stars.

Don’t know anything about grime, and I always think UK rappers sound goofy at first, but this was a great listen. I loved the beats and the lyrics started to get me hooked towards the end.

Very cool

Wow. I went into this fully expecting to hate every inch of it. Loved it. skits can do one, but this is absolute hype fam

This is the most fun I had since starting this project

Blown away easy 10/10 album no skip. and epic qotsa sample in Man.

along with dizzee rascal, this álbum helped me realise that i actually quite enjoy grime. was very impressed on my first listen.

I enjoy rap/hip-hop with at least some aggression and this strikes a good balance of being passionate and a bit angry without being just gangsta' rap. I enjoy the rhymes and some of them are reasonably intelligent. The beats are also nice and punchy. I also enjoy that the lyrics have a purpose, a meaning, other than just: fuck bitches, shoot snitches, get stacks, like some rap (that is sometimes enjoyable, but in a different way). It's not the biggest 5 I've given, but I would probably recommend this one to a friend if I knew they were into this kind of stuff Standouts Konnichiwa It Ain't Safe Man Shutdown That's Not Me 5/5

Måske det bedste grime-album der findes

Strong start, I was UP from the first set of sounds, amazing repertoire and just strong energy. Loved it

muito bom

Gewoon echt goed, dikke beats, vette raps en echt anders dan wat ze in de VS maken.

Dark, clever, refreshing.

Wagwan fam, can't lie man was loving the first half of this album fam, but some of the talking parts were proper cringe blud you get me? Man took a star off for it fam, but then Shutdown and That's Not Me came on and man couldn't not give 5 stars fam, see what I'm saying fam? Big man ting.

very cool

шаг в перед. нью-йорк, я работаю в закусочной, но танцую в команде, мы мечтали, хожу в джинсовых шортах, гавайской рубашке и катаюсь на скейте и у меня всегда проводные наушники. и мне хорошо.

Dope

Gosh this is so good. I just love the way that UK hip-hop went from being the most cringeworthy thing in the world to stuff like this, which is so raw and feisty and just such an insight into that world and culture. "Shutdown" is amazing. Scary that this is getting on for 10 years old now! I am so old.

Hard as hell, one of the greats of the grime scene, amazing guest spots, important and good (not just one or the other!), absolutely brilliant

Rating: 10/10

Heel dik album

Love grime!

So so good. Ended up listening to Skepta and other english rappers all night.

OK. I guess I like grime? I very much like the rhythm of the words and the backing tracks and definitely the dialect.

Кайфово было. Качало. Переслушал еще раз. Numbers заела в голове.

woooooooooooo

Damn, this was a vibe. Really dug this one

This album was awesome. I didn't know about grime, grateful to have the chance to learn about it. Really catchy hip hop, with the songs focused largely on social commentary and internal reflections. That's spot on my taste for hip hop. 4.5 I'd say, rounded up this time.

I liked it, i guess it was included partly because of its importance in taking grime beyond the UK (the pharrell appearance, some of the skits referenced this too). Didn't feel like it overstayed its welcome, had variety in style. Shutdown and thats not me were the obvious tracks heard before. The pharell track felt like one of the weaker ones.

This album rules. I won't be getting in the Grime, but I will replay this album every now and then.

Imagine how good this would’ve been if it wasn’t Bri*ish. In all seriousness, the front and back end songs didn’t really fit with the meat of the sandwich, and the skits were 10000x more annoying than American ones due to the slang. The core of this album was pleasantly surprising, and I could see myself returning to those fairly often.

There were moments I was really with it and moments I wasn’t. The skits are ridiculous and really pull you out. Huge influence for the UK rap scene. Enough good to give it a 4.

Don’t listen to as much rap these days as my younger years. Wasn’t particularly enthused about this one going in, hence my Northern Boys comparison. But I liked this quite a bit.

3.81

I've never smashed out so many emails - like having a personal hype man! This did slap!

every song is amazing, the spoken word interludes are hilarious (unintentionally so but still), 4.5 Fav song: That's Not Me or Shutdown or Text Me Back or Lyrics or

Clever rhymes and delivery. This is a fun sound

This is fun English accent rap

This was pretty fun. Had to look up the genre of hip hop - grime - not something I'd say I'm particularly drawn to, but spinning this several times didn't get old. It's hard not to take off a star for him being a Sp*rs fan, but I've gotta let the music speak for itself.

This was good - I would 100% go off to this in the ‘Sup in the festival environment but as a work day listen it probably didn’t hit as hard as I hoped it would. Probably not something I would actively listen to but still a super fun time.

Again, went in with slightly snobby impressions but the album won me over

Solid all round.

Fam was tidy hot sauce

This was kind of right up my alley. I dug it.

nice to see something different i wasnt familiar with!

Skepta taas aika ylläri tällä listalla. Vaikka grimestä tykkäänkin niin tää levy ei kuullostanut niin ihmeelliseltä. Toisaalta sit tuli Shutdown mikä on yks parhaita grime kappaleita. En nyt pelkästään sen takia haluais antaa 4 tähteä, mutta kyllä levy paranikin loppua päin. Ehkä tää on se 4 tähteä. Ei paras, mutta koska tykkään genrestä niin keskivertoa parempi. Parhaat: Shutdown, Text Me Back, That's Not Me

This definitely was not a genre I typically listen to, but I really found myself enjoying the grooves and the rapping on this. The talking tracks were too long and not interesting in the slightest, so I could've done without them, but I really enjoyed the beats, the rapping, the production quality and the sound of the record. I listened to it twice. Four stars.

A great time that I would absolutely revisit. Confident and jagged. Shoved me around in a good way. Skepta is one hell of a performer. I thought the Pharrell feature was corny at first and ended up kind of charmed by it. Glad to see UK grime represented on the list.