Reviews (page 7 of 7)
I liked this a lot, the music really reminds me of the music of Good Kid mAAd City.
Not the shittiest out there 2 But its close 1
-never heard of this guy but im excited! -A SONG WITH PHAREELL WILLIAMS? -these songs are cool, similar beat in each of them so far tho -idk. some of these songs feel a little basic to me -the raps aren’t bad! its just none of these songs are hitting for me -the next song has pharrell williams on it which means i need it to deliver 🙏🏻 -THERE WE GOOOO THIS IS ALL PHARRELL -hate to say this. its a little boring for a pharrell feature -but i have to say! one of the best i’ve heard on the album so far -i have definitely listened to man before and its kinda fire -overall this album is alright. not personally my thing, giving it two stars
This really goes hard. I loved this.
So goofy that it’s not a 1
A weird album, not big into the British rap scene Top songs: Crime Riddim, Shutdown
British rap that still sounds fresh
Too much of the skitty interludes.
I'm generally dismissive of grime and UK rap in general after discovering some of the most horrendous rap I have ever heard from those genres. But this one actually slaps much harder than I expected.
Konnichiwa- 3.8/5 Lyrics- 3.7/5 Corn on the Curb- 3.5/5 Crime Riddim- 4.1/5 It Ain't Safe- 3.9/5 Ladies Hit Squad- 4/5 Numbers- 3/5 Man- 3.5/5 Shutdown- 3.6/5 That's Not Me- 3.3/5 Detox- 3.4/5 Text Me Back- 3.6/5 Total- 3.6/5
I don't usually listen to rap but this is pretty good!
Another one I had never heard of, and didn’t know what to expect - it’s British rap (grime). I kind of liked it, but it dragged at the end. 2.5 - probably won’t revisit.
If I listen to hip hop, it is usually 90s. But I liked this. Would listen again
Bangerz
I think it’s done well and if I liked this kind of music, I would really enjoy it. But it’s not for me and I couldn’t finish it. Pissed me off I could hear his accent. Not a fan of the British.
It was interesting, not really my style. One song made me stop listening to it and go find Queens of the Stone Age.
I wish I had this guy's self-esteem...
meh
American rap is just so much better
Dobar, znam ga zbog Janka 🤝
Horrid lyrics
Me gustó "Crime riddim" y aunque suena bastante bien no me entusiasmó. Interesante como rap UK pero no imprescindible. (también a veces es difícil disfrutar de una música basada en las letras de las canciones sin dominar el idioma)
So very very Grime.
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
Can I get a pic for the gram? Great album. I liked the background music, energy, wished I had been listening on something that had a little more bass.
one of the best grime albums ever. bonus points for putting a recording of a cod lobby on a track
Very listenable. This is not the type of music I would normally listen to, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the phone calls/skits that were near the ends of certain songs.
probably only one song i'd listen to again. I'm unduely annoyed by between-song adlibs, so maybe this just wasn't my day. cool to have some more modern stuff on the list tho. 1.5
this was not for me sadly
I think I might like grime as a genre but I found this particular artist/album repetitive and sometimes sounding like Drake (derogatory). I did like Man and Shutdown.
Wow, fam. This generator has given me some rough to listen albums but nothing as awful as this, fam. First song had me excited, fam, second song had me a bit annoyed, fam, and the third song, fam, ended things for me. I was definitely a better person before listening to this fam. 0 songs added, 8 songs skipped. Skits were awful fam.
Thoughts before listening: I think this is British rap although I've never listened to this guy before. I like The Streets and I remember when Dizzee Rascal was a big deal, but other than that I don't know that much about the British hip hop scene. This probably won't be my thing but I'll give it a shot. Review: This is fine. The British accent and slang does make this unique from the American hip hop I am more familiar with. Like with a lot of hip hop albums the skits are dumb and its hard to relate to the lyrics. Overall this probably isn't something I'm going to go back and listen to, but it's okay for what it is. I did add a couple songs to my playlist.
Not for me. I had it on, a lot of it sounded the same.
Great grime album
3.4
Cat: sounds cool. Lyrics are terrible.
It was a British rap album. I was not familiar with it. It wasn't bad. I cannot really remember any of it but I didn't skip any of it. I will round up.
They're trolling, right? Only 1,001 albums and we have time for this crap? I listened to the whole thing in disbelief and ended up several IQ points dumber. The lyrics are idiotic; N-words abound. The dude had a fight over voice chat in a game of Call of Duty, and he decides it would be a good idea to throw it on the album. I was disgusted with the whole album *except* the last 30 seconds. That was actually good, and not so coincidentally had no vocals.
I could not find one redeeming quality on this. The rhymes and beats were weak. I struggled to get through this.
aged
if you're gonna listen to uk rap there is so much better stuff out there. I don't know most of it but I'm sure there's better than this
I probably need to listen a few more times to really appreciate it.
It made a nice change at first… but became pretty tiresome after a while
Good wrapping
Pretty good stuff actually, felt the beat and got pretty hyped
Well I can see why some people like this, But as with others in this genre, the voice over powers the music and I don't like that. Nor do I appreciate music being usurped for political purposes. I can live with it if it is of a high enough standard musically, as with And Then There Were None by The Enid, or 1916 by Mötorhead. But again this just didn't have it. Even so some bits were OK and each track was mercifully short. 1.5
I did listen to the whole thing, reading the lyrics as I went. So much hatred, anger and violence. The violence isn’t even implied. Just couldn’t find anything I could hang a complimentary remark upon. Sorry, just not for me.
Mmm. My kids love it. I don't. Mandem, fam, Fireman Sam... Musically it was basic but ok. However, the vocals, lyrics and the phone calls? Nope. A low 1, not a complete 0.
Better than I thought it would be.
UK grime, reminds me of bad London rap, 3/4 finished when reviewed
Couldn’t give it zero stars
This is the 3rd British rapper I've gotten in only 2 weeks of doing this. And this was the best yet. It seemed more composed than the others (no names mentioned - this isn't about them haha). It was thoughtful, well produced, strong performance, good mix of other genre influence, and an all around bop.
Love grime!
meh
Sounds like every other British raper. The Pharrell Williams song was pretty good, though.
Hip-hop. Ni fu ni fa.
Estilo grime, para mí hip hop. Rollo patatero.
I hate aggressive music with corny lyrics forced for the sake of rhyming but made to sound meaningful via ranty delivery. It's too phony and try-hard. Not my thing I guess.
British grime rap? I'm in. Solid 4
Classic grime, definite high points with Shutdown and That’s Not Me but every song slaps.
So so good. Ended up listening to Skepta and other english rappers all night.
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
Was fine, uk rap
This started out very strong for me, but I got a little bored and annoyed by the end of it.
Yeah, this one didn’t really speak to me all that much. I guess it is the style of rap that didn’t match my groove today. Maybe I’ll try it again on a different day.
OK. I guess I like grime? I very much like the rhythm of the words and the backing tracks and definitely the dialect.
I started off liking this more than I expected, but it wore me down and by the end was ready for it to be over. About 30 minutes too long.
Enjoyed this album. Not something I would normally listen to but very good.
Кайфово было. Качало. Переслушал еще раз. Numbers заела в голове.
After the first track I thought I’d like it, but it wore out its welcome really quickly. Weak, overly repetitive lyrics, forced rhymes, and some of the tracks are so similar I thought they were just continuations of the previous song. The only reason this isn’t lower is because the production is so good.
I still struggle with hip hop and was leaning towards dismissing this as a 2 after the first run through but it started to win me over on the second listen and I feel I could get more into it with more time. Fave track: It Ain't Safe
Hmmm, I was leaning towards a 3 to begin with, but it won me over as it went on. It's a very distinctive sound he's got - the inclusion of "Ladies Hit Squad" which is much more than slowed down US sub-genre I don't know the name of really highlights how different the rest of the tracks are to standard US fare... Content-wise I'm a bit ambivalent - prefer my hip-hop to be of the more conscious variety, and this has made me realize there's no Roots Manuva in the list, what the hell is that about! Fave track - "Man (Gang)" maybe, or "Shutdown"
I really liked the production on this one, and thought the samples/beat were cool, but I guess I haven't gotten over my "British rap sounds cringy because of the accent" phase. The lyrics did not help with this.
Decent, decent
Skepta låter bara så sick man... shoutz out. Och alltså det här är ett av få album på listan från 2010-talet som inte är av en gammal artist eller tillbakablickande trash indie. Bra pick!
Man put me off my morning bowl of PussyOs, fam
HL: “Numbers”, “That’s Not Me”, “It Ain’t Safe”, “Lyrics” Nothing dates something to the mid-2010’s like the airhorns in “Lyrics” (see also: “Hold Up” by Beyoncé), but as a full-length introduction to grime, Konnichiwa impressed me. Approaches something menacing in some tracks, while others are more offbeat & jovial. I know my biased self would give A Moon Shaped Pool or Blackstar the 2016 Mercury Prize over this, but on the other hand it goes to show how much good music came out at the same time. October 2, 2023
It's alright...
didn't like it at all. sounds like something some annoying teenager would listen to
Unusually, an album that gets better towards the end. After a strong start, there’s a real sink in the middle as skits proliferate and guest stars abound. I can’t get a grasp of Skepta’s style or aesthetic - not when there’s Drake knock offs and Pharrell’s phoned-in production within. The album livens up with Shutdown and ends with the smart Text Me, both produced by Ragz Originale. Skepta clearly works hard and there’s some slick bars but for a British rapper look to Dave who 100% deserves a place on the list.
4 but British
Started out as a 4, dipped to a 2, rallied for a weak 3. Quite honestly, it all sounded a bit whiny, like a skinny little man/boy was whinging on about stuff. Didn't like the "skits" and all felt a bit flat.
8/10
prod et beat étaient pas mal nice. le flow un peu dull par moment. still enjoyable 6.5/10
I could not wait for this to be done. Not only bad. Intrusive. Obnoxious.
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.
I liked this all right, though like a lot of UK hip hop it just doesn't quite connect for me. Some cultural divide: though I'm hardly of U.S. hip hop culture either, somehow I get it more fully. The stripped down drum and bass music was a little flat for me, I suspect it plays a lot better in the live environment that grime came out of.
Wild beat on Crime Riddim.
not bad
3.5 Pretty heavy rap / grime.
Not really my thing but I appreciated it
3.6 - Grime seems like another one of those quixotic sub-genres that’s plagued by chronic in-fighting and artists bickering over who’s in and who’s out. All that noise aside, I enjoyed this record, especially the EDM beats that mix thumping bass with swirly/trippy elements. The MC’ing is certainly passable - clear and flowing though middling. From what I gather, Skepta enjoyed considerable influence for a short time, certainly within the grime scene, and to a lesser extent within the larger hip hop landscape. It’s unclear whether that influence has endured, or whether grime as a movement is still relevant. Standouts: “That’s Not Me”, “Shutdown.”
Started interesting and listenable. But wore out its welcome; by Ladies Hit Squad I had had enough. And lord spare me the skits...
Not my kind of music but this was decent.
Doesn't do much for me.
It's just an album of Need For Speed music
HE SAMPLED QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
Not for me, every song sounds the same
Didn’t talk to me, for me or even at me. Sayonara.
it was him, though
More like Skeptic.
My first grime album, what a place to start.
Finally a hip hop album with a bit darker beat and atmosphere. I like this style of music and additionally Skepta's style and flow was pretty inclusive for fans of different genres. A real positive surprise, I would be happy to check the rest of his discography.
idk why this is on the list, sounds like generic britrap to me
Solid
Not bad
Cet album m'a plu et m'a permis d'en apprendre sur les différences entre les hip-hops américain et britannique
Best Song: Lyrics. Perfect example of that harsh, bouncy rhythm that you don't hear as much outside UK rap. Stanky. Worst Song: Crime Riddim. Definitely feels the most like a character. The song isn't great and the skit/spoken audio is pretty shit. If you're going to include banter on your record, wouldn't you want it to be good banter? Overall: The album starts strong, carried by Skepta's flow and knack for hitting a good rhythm hard, but is bogged down by a set of features that are all significantly worse than the main event. I love the harshly staccato delivery of Skepta, so it's disappointing that we have to weave through weaker entries just to appreciate it.
British drill rap a few too many skits for my taste but fine otherwise 2.5
Je connaissais pas le style grimes mais semblerait que c'est une bonne introduction à ce son. Généralement j'ai bien apprécié, le gars a des très bons flows, ses paroles semblent avoir une certaine unicité. Vers le milieu de l'album il y a un peu de moments plus faibles, mais ça reprend très bien vers la fin. 7/10
I remember coming across Skepta’s name a good few years ago and disregarding it because I thought it was dubstep (which is silly because I did end up caving and enjoying dubstep later). Since then, I guess he hasn’t come up on my radar again so I never thought to listen. But today that will change! Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Crime Riddim, Shutdown This was pretty great. Skepta has one of those voices in hip hop that makes it sound easy as he seems so natural with it. The lyrics are mostly fantastic, but I’ll be honest and say that a lot of the roadman talk went straight over my head. I can’t help but cringe when people call each other “fam”, just as much as people describe workplaces as a “little family”. It’s all the same level of ridiculous to me, but I could digress about that for longer than I’d necessary here. Anyway, this album is good. Give it a listen.
J'aime le style. C'est aggressif et ca déménage. Le mélande de hiphop avec des beats vraiment intense. Ca s'écoute super bien. c'est vraiment un bon album. 4.5
after having Ms dynamite (ee hee) on the list last week i realised i had no idea who had won the mercury music prize in probably the last decade so went on a bit of a discovery mission which included this album. it's like i'm mystic meg and i predict the future. it's surprisingly listenable considering i am incredibly not urban and 100% not in to London as a thing or culture. the closest i get to being londonese is when i say peas and foooood like in Top boy.
Scott Kelly plays the N word card
The British "accent" even makes hip hop sound more sophisticated. Still not good though.
I was skeptical of this so I decided to play the 3 hits in a row, looking for a reason to hit DID NOT LISTEN. However, even though they sounded like extensions of the same song I liked the sound well enough - it's different and I especially love it when the big fat bass kicks in.
Do you know when those guys drive by you with their car windows open with music blasting and all you hear is this very deep, distorted subsonic bass going … boom … boom …. boom I always wondered what music they’re playing. Turns out they’re probably playing Skepta. I hated it when I heard it then and I also hate now.
The UK does a lot of things well, but rap is not one of them.
Konnichiwa // Crime Riddim // It Ain’t Safe // Man // Shutdown // That’s Not Me //
The album version of the show Top Boy. Great show, but the album is not doing it for me. Probably 2.5/5 2/5
Þetta er ekkert slæmt. Bara ekkert gott heldur.
Hmm nope
This album was a nice change of pace. I enjoy UK hip hop and really liked the aggression and portrayal of urban life. The grime beats were enjoyable, but started to sound similar after a while. The skits also took away a bit as well and dated the album a bit. Overall, I liked this album, but I don't think it should've won the Mercury Prize for 2016.
Ridin round in a rover if i see opps then its over
Grime is an hip hop sub-genre that I didn't really know, but it sounds like a more aggressive form of trap, and I'm not a huge fan of that genre, nor this one. So overall, this isn't my cup of tea although the flow was pretty decent, and I did like Shutdown (it felt like an Eminem track).
big man ting, grime isn't really my thing, but it was a good album
Mixed feelings on this one. It was more or less an enjoyable listen, but I don't relate to constantly having to state how hard one is, or how willing they are to use a gun or take a life, or how sexually prolific they are. I just can't relate to someone who's whole life is bragging about aggression.
As far as modern hip hop goes, grime isn't really for me. For one reason or another, the accent or the style of production just doesn't click. That being said, I don't have anything negative to say specifically either.
The second half was much swifter and catchier than the first. I didn’t think I was gonna like the grime - I really liked the heartfelt outro.
Not sure why but this album rubbed me the wrong way
Nope
British crime rap ain't my bag.
Meh
I knew I wouldn't like this, because I know I don't like grime, but this was obnoxious. The beats are laughably bad and the rapping was usually annoying. The interludes/skits also annoyed me, especially because they are attached to the ends of the songs for no reason. I don't get this album at all. My favourite song was Man.
5/10. Like, I don't want to shit talk this too much, because there was good flow to the lyrics and such, but it's going to take more than that for me to accept British rap into my heart
This was cool but not my cup of tea. 6/10
Why do all Brit’s sound like wussies
You know what I really enjoyed this, much more than I thought it would. The beats and samples are great, much more tuneful than expected. His flow is great, and some niche shout outs including Hublot watches. Needs a relisten so giving this the benefit of the doubt.
Sayonara.
Made me feel like I was in a Guy Ritchie movie
Cool grime record, cool samples.
Muzikaal vind ik het nog best boeiend, maar die teksten... Hoe bestaat het toch dat er zoveel mensen dit kunnen pruimen? Dit soort crap is toch niet vol te houden? 'All them girls, they're pretty, they gonna twerk for me, nasty baby please put out that work for me'
Zullen we dit in het vervolg gewoon niet meer doen, jongens? Wel een paar aardige stukjes gehoord maar ik schiet hier gewoon bar weinig mee op.
My only exposure to this before now, was that the track "Shutdown" was in the Tony Hark remaster, and was always an instant skip the second it came on. Blah blah blah, shutdown! Blat blat blat and shutdown! Did some tings and shutdown! Fam, I'm not a fan of grime. It's boring and repetitive, you get me fam? Also the actual content is just dreadful fam. It's dreadful fam! Some of the beats and production are good though, I'll give him that.
endless hooks and chorus. Honestly couldn't wait for the album to be over, longest 45 minutes of my life. If I wanted to listen to hooks all day, I'd go fishing. Also couldn't take it seriously, all I could think about was that "Mans not hot" joke rap.
Sorry but no. I don't even have a favorite track.
Ok album but not my thing
Outside of noticing a queens of the stone age sample this album was just not for me
why does this book have so many british rappers 💀 they’re all so mid production is really the only thing good here and even that is only okay 6/10
Album 80 of 1001 Skepta - Konnichiwa Rating : 2 / 5 Favorite Track : None British Rap. I suffered through it, but can't say that it is for me. It was odd hearing rap with a British accent. So polite sounding. Rapper actually said "Fuck Me" and then followed it up with "not literally". Had its time and its place but I'm not involved.
Ok, Grime. Well, we'll see. First couple of tracks I can appreciate, the flow is good, the words are good. It's just not my thing, man. By track 3 I can't help it, all I can think of is KoreanBilly and his How to Speak Roadman video. https://youtu.be/VV0BB0CxIFk I mean I know this is widely parodied whereas this is presumably authentic for Skepta, but I don't have control here, it's just what my brain does. Crime Riddim is kind of funny. The flat singing in Ladies Hit Squad, is everything I hate about this genre, that part of the sound is like nails down a blackboard for me. Ungggh, oh god I hate it so much. By the time Shutdown come around I'm more or less hating this. Reckon if I heard one or two tracks in isolation I'd like them a lot more. Ah ok. That's Not Me is the best track here by about a billion miles. Cut through all the negativity I'd built up by this point and made me smile and bob my head. This is gonna be a one listen and done, glad I listened to it, glad it's here, not for me, cheers.
This style of music is just so uninteresting to me
I like it. All new to me and I was drawn in nicely by it.
woooooooooooo
This is only the second grime record I've listened to, after Dizzee Rascal's 'Boy in Da Corner'. I liked both. Having emerged from East London in the early 2000s, perhaps grime generally holds my interest better than hip-hop because the themes are closer to home and the sounds and accents more familiar. Having said that, I can't seem to find a way in to Stormzy's music. This record starts with a bang and maintains a high energy throughout. There are some striking and humorous lyrics amongst the rest. Rating: 3.5/5 Playlist track: Man Date listened: 12/06/23
par for the course, coarse and overwrought
Not my usual type of music, but not awful
Real Man's Not Hot vibes. dislike strongly, not sure if there is any scenario I would listen to this.
In some ways (the skits + "turn up my headphones," for starters), this album sounds like it's 15 years older than it is. It still goes, though. This is the second London rapper I've really enjoyed, which makes me wonder if there's a Geordie rapper out there that should be on the list. I'll investigate. Best track: Shutdown
Tot i l'excés de hip hop a la llista, cal reconèixer que al treball d'Skepta hi ha molts motius per a disfrutar de l'escolta. Un flow que enganxa, uns beats de primer nivell, i unes lletres que allà fins on he pogut entendre, dibuixen molt bé la realitat del Londres del 2016. Les col.laboracions acaben d'arrodonir un dels millors discos de hip hop dels '10s
I’ll admit, I don’t listen to modern hip hop that much, especially British hip hop. I listen to a lot of old school stuff, but not really modern stuff. I can truthfully say however, that this record is pretty okay. If it’s one thing I can say about the record, all of the beats have this fast edm-ish quality to them, some incorporating industrial music as well which is always nice in my opinion. The vocals from skepta are also pretty angry and fiery and there’s a certain something about that kind of works. That being said, some of the production choices like weird ass interludes and pointless skits in between songs is just not that good. And while I may have praised the beats, some of them kind of suck. And admittedly some of the bars are also pretty bad. That one about Muslims in Shutdown is pretty bad. My man also says sus unironically. The noises and euphemisms Skepta uses sometimes are also just kind of bad, although it is inherently a fault of being br*tish. Overall, I’d say a 6 is fair. Nice beats and performance but wordplay and production could be better in some areas.
Damn, this was a vibe. Really dug this one
Good bit of grime innit. I do really like some of the tracks, but I really dislike all the cringey spoken interludes. This is a recurring thing that a lot of otherwise good albums do, I don't see the point of them.
Actually enjoyed — wasn’t sure I’d like grime. The production is nice, and there are some catchy songs in there. I’d have to go through the lyrics again but overall I liked the music. I understand this is a fairly influential record in UK grime scenes so I’m gonna give this a 4.
Para ser trap, no está taaaan mal, pero esta no es una lista de trap. Algo que tomo mucho en consideración a la hora de calificar un álbum es lo que me hace sentir, lamentablemente, este no me hizo sentir nada bueno. Era como escuchar a tu amigo el fan de Friends hablarte sobre lo mucho que le gusta el show, lo que cree de los personajes y sus partes favoritas, pero tu no has visto ni un solo capitulo de ella. Es un 2 en toda la norma.
This was good. Enjoyed it more than I usually do with this genre.
Has a few nice songs but most of them I couldn't enjoy. Plus the skits are just weird. Highlights: Konnichiwa, Shutdown, That's Not Me
Unfortunately after the excellent little simz album, the British rap albums on this list have gone back to being bad. This isn’t the worst one mostly due to the production but the lyrics are completely unrelatable to me and made me cringe most of the time. There are a couple songs I’d maybe think about possibly listening to again but that’s it.
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.
1.75
Before today, I'd never heard of Skepta before. Given the album title, I was under the assumption that this was a Japanese band. Boy was I wrong. Skepta is a British rapper who is big on the "Grime" scene. If you're like me, you don't have a bakers fuck of an idea what Grime is. According to Wikipedia, Grime is a genre of electronic dance music that originated out of London in the early 00's. It developed out of the UK Garage style, and draws influence from Jungle, dancehall, and hip hop. It is fast (usually around 140bpm) and usually features aggressive electronic sounds. To Cole's Notes this a bit, it is like rap/hip hop that you can dance to. This is not really in my wheelhouse of "favourites", but I can see the appeal to certain folks. It has a very heavy bass section, and would sound good on a sound system. I didn't mind it, but it's just not something I would gravitate towards, or ever seek out again. It is pretty cool that this dude worked with Pharrell Williams quite a bit when producing this record. The one thing it features that I hate are the stupid fucking skits that so many in the hip hop game did in the 90's. I hate skits, and find that they distract from the overall flow of the record. I don't give a fuck if you had an altercation with a man on a phone and wanted to beat his ass, get on with the music! Favourite songs: That's Not Me, Man, Crime Riddim, Corn on the Curb, Lyrics, It Ain't Safe, Konnichiwa Least favourite songs: Ladies Hit Squad 3/5
I always find Brit-hop interesting. It's unquestionably a different beast than American hip-hop, most noticeably with regard to production. It's usually simpler, relying more heavily on synthesizers and 808s. Done well, there's an elegance to the simplicity (see Dizzee Rascal's "Fix Up, Look Sharp," which admittedly is more sample than drum machine, but the simplicity is there). Done poorly, the tracks can sound dated, as if someone borrowed the backing track from a late-'80s 8-bit video game (and not a cool one). The other aspect of Brit-hop that interests me is the slang. We and the Brits both speak English, but it's a different lexical world over there, and I find the resulting turns of phrase intriguing. Perhaps more than any other music genre, hip-hop is poetry, and what is poetry other than finding unique and unexpected ways of saying something? To my American ears, Brit-hop lyrics have value based on that novelty alone, even if *what* they're saying is essentially rehashed '90s gangsta rap. And that's what much of this album sounds like, unfortunately—well-trodden thematic ground with a British twist. To an American listener, the most familiar-sounding tracks are liable to be "Ladies Hit Squad" thanks to A$AP Nast's Drake-like delivery (which is overrated but very much American—despite Drake being Canadian) and "Numbers," which, unsurprisingly, is the track with the best production thanks to Pharrell's involvement (see previous comments about elegant simplicity). Sounding American shouldn't be the goal, so that's not an issue. But the production and thematic content needs work. All that said, I didn't hate this. Call it a 3.5.
Just a notch above truly awful
Not a fan.
Hip hop. Convencional. Coñazo.
Mid-2010s rap/hip-hop experiment that aims to mimic the heady beats and poignant themes of its modern contemporaries, but ends up feeling completely lifeless and without a personality of its own as a result.
I've loved That's Not Me since it dropped, and I'm glad that the rest of the album holds up to it; I just wish the skits were shorter.
Some incredibly dope grime, but too many skits really takes it down for me, which is unfortunate
There are plenty of rappers from Britain with a lot of talent, and I'm not denying Skepta is one of them and that he made a huge impact there. That said, why on earth would I label this album as an "essential" one? Musically, it has rather "barebones" production values, which I get it, was done on purpose to make the whole thing sound raw and authentic. This works out fine on a few tracks here and there, such as "Numbers", or "Crime Riddim (which has a nice... riddim). Nonetheless, and in spite of their rather weird beeps and bloops, a lot of those tracks don't have anything particularly striking to them. Worse, some of the cuts sound incomplete or unfinished, which is quite ironical when you learn how many delays this release went through. To be honest, I predict most of the music on this LP will not age very well anyway. As a matter of fact, the record already sounds older than it really is. And lyrically, well... Skepta has an interesting flow sometimes, but c'mon, some of the rhyming is pretty poor in key parts of this record. Case in point, the title track, where a quarter of the rhymes end with the same little word, "me" (a flaw that also occurs in "That's Not Me", for instance). Ugh. Ego-tripping is an exercise where you need to be sharper and smarter than that. And as far as lyrical hooks, nothing really stands out as well. This thing needs stronger choruses. Without those, the whole experience this grime album offers is a little underwhelming. 2/5 for the purposes of this list gathering "essential" albums, which translates to a 7/10 overall grade (5 + 2). Next, please. Number of albums left to review: 551 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 217 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 105 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 129 (including this one)
I don't get it. 2
Dum Dum Dum Dum tingaling tingaling Dum Dum Dum "Here's some more about me". Tedious
I feel bad for the producer(s?) on this album, making such fire beats only for this guy to sing over them about being the baddest dude in London or whatever.
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.
A too-rare rap project which respects its runtime and manages to grow steadily better without a particular frame narrative. Konnichiwa is packed with hits, easy to listen to, and presents its sound in a slice where repetition is density. Hooks and features; Who needs more?
To paraphrase an old cliche, I don't know rap, but I know what I like. With my admittedly limited knowledge, the stuff I've heard that I have gravitated towards has been generally labeled as UKG, Grime, or original Hip Hop. Even being from the US, I tend to enjoy the UK rap stuff more. As I said, I don't know enough about rap and it's sub-genres to really know what is good or not, but I found this mostly enjoyable.
- Pretty bangin British rap - Great production quality, the bass is nice - Skepta's voice is so cool to listen to - Ladies Hit Squad, It Ain't Safe, That's Not Me
- Something about it feels try hard - Middle-school level of trying to sound tough - A few solid beats and he has good flow
Not my favorite. I don't know what it is about the fame and swagger that doesn't hit me the same way as more obviously "socially conscious" rap. Good production, but not my thing.
British street rap. Ok.
This was fun, but forgettable.
oh god, supaboring
A wild ride going from 'Close To The Edge' to this one. Skepta is cool and all, but Konnichiwa is a bit unfocused. Interludes drag and most of the tracks are forgettable. 'Shutdown' and 'That's Not Me' are absolute bangers though.
Skepta hits hard on this Grime-reviving album. His flow is on point and the deep bass demands you to listen to this at high volumes. I was pleased to see that there were no interludes or skits on the track list - only to find out that Skepta cleverly hid them at the end of songs. Not cool. Not cool at all.
If you were to show people what grime was, this is one of the best that the genre has to offer. It isn't saying much considering most of the genre (and anything coming from UK garage) is pretty trash, but this is really decent. Fast beats and dark bass lines make it danceable and take influence from contemporary genres like dubstep, but it has a very modern production and style that aligns it more with modern hip hop. I could see the influence it would have on trap. I admit it was a bit hard for me on my first listen, but I once started paying attention all the production techniques, from the industrial effects to his over dubbing to his hilarious lines and overly British accent, it really started to grow on me and I found something to like out of every track. Had a very strong start with two aggressive tracks, then we get some tracks mixing catchy lines with intricate melodies, then we get the major hits. There were a few skippable tracks, and the skits were hardly audible and boring of what I could hear.
shutdown hype
moet meer grime luisteren. Mooi album mss iets teveel skits
I had this on low because work but some groovy brit hop
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
not my thing, i guess
Gritty, but ultimately catchy and infectious grime, Skepta repping for the UK.
Really not memorable or that impressive
Paljon täytebiisejä, mutta hyvät biisit on tosi hyviä. Bileet!
Hitaammista, "jumittavammista" täytebiiseistä huolimatta tämä on onnistuminen. Artisti todella osaa sanailla, enkä edes osaa selittää miksi: juttuja vain on hauska kuunnella. Päähän soimaan jäävä yksinkertainen rallatus (Shutdown): check.
That accent is far too fucking much. Modern rap is shit, at least the stuff on the radio. Rap from the UK is shit. Skits in songs are shit. At least it only went for 45min. 2/5.
Fond memories of Chad putting this on at a veeeeeery deep point of the 2016 splendor session. TRUST ME DADDY
I just have a hard time taking British MCs seriously. Not really list worthy
One of my least fond genres of music, this continues that trend as It made me wander what they were saying and repeating "quick maffs" in my head again and again in equal measure.
Some solid tracks on here... but I'm just struggling to understand why, out of all the great hip hop in the last 10 years, this album got picked for the list.
Guess I don’t like this flavour of rap, either.
Better than I expected but I don't see myself listening to this outside of Europe... which I have yet to visit
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.
I was set on giving this only 2 stars after the first listen, but I got into it a lot more in the second round. Toward the end the songs were less engaging, and then that grime rhythm that is all over this album got a little boring.
Gorgeous sound with nicely flowing raps.
Had not heard of this but apparently it did well... I enjoyed some of it but had trouble taking it seriously.
Sayonara.
Sounds great instrumentally and I dig British rap/grime flow, but lyrically it's just hollow braggadocio.
Unique voice, cool accent, entertaining lyrics, some good beats. There is a lot to enjoy here. Some songs were a bit much and I had to skip over ( Numbers) but also a couple great ones I will come back to (Ladies Hit Squad, Man, Shutdown). I am glad they included this modern album.
Lyrics were meh, British accent - noice
It was all right. I didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. 2.5 rounded up
First impression, the beats are pretty cool. The lyrics are a bit basic, like someone went on rhymezone and ran words through to exhaust the simplistic rhymes. Crime Riddem is like this and I TRIED to like it. I find some of the patterns in song writing is quite generic here… chippindale, male, cell, and got me biting all of my fingernails“ 💀 I have not heard of this artist. I personally think that Apple Music was ON ONE for saying this was the best album of 2016. I will not say who I thought was better. Not that this has any bearing on the quality of the music… but Skepta has all of these albums out and sadly he is not on my rapper’s vocabulary graph… https://pudding.cool/projects/vocabulary/index.html “I was in da club and a guy was mean mugging me. He made me spill my drink so we had an altercation”. The beat is lit, but he is not sure what to write the song about so he becomes British Freddie Gibbs. Personally tired of hearing more stories about adverse scenarios in the bar. I liked Man and It Ain’t Safe the best. I guess I am now a bit familiar with Skepta. Not sure if better or worse, but cool to be exposed to another British rap artist to join the likes of The Streets and Dizzee Rascal.
He's definitely a good rapper - I didn't have a ton of time with this record. The music was pretty interesting - never heard of "grime" before.
Man, I had high hopes for this one. This album is perfect for blasting after a workday in Londontown and pre gaming at a pub before heading to see Jersey Boys on the big stage. The Numbers just don’t add up for me. It’s mostly because of the Lyrics, I’ve heard dozens of albums that are a more creative on the wordsmithing. But I guess that’s the vibe they’re going for. Not even Pharrell could save this record for me. Some of the beats get my hype, but the overall feel of the album…that’s just not me. I’m going on a Detox of Skepta.
I really wanted to enjoy this more than I did. The lyrics are weirdly literal, on my first listen I was catching some good lines but upon re-listens it felt silly. The beats are pretty 'hype' as the kids would say, but I'm an old man and those damn kids need to get off my lawn.
This was decent. For whatever reason some of the lyrics were filtering through to me on this one and some of it was odd stuff for rap, but definitely interesting. Maybe I was charmed by the british accent. Nothing to special on the music side of things but I found this one rather more accessible than a lot of hip hop (or Grime or whatever the genre apparently is).
It was ok
Interesting, and got some good beats.
Grimey - good lyrics and production. Overall, just nothing out of the norm. Money, cars, hoes, blah blah... 3/5 for production
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!!!
Not a big fan.
man (that's) not hot. Kilka razy już próbowałem brytyjskiej sceny rapowej i jakoś jeszcze nie trafiłem na coś co by mi przypadło do gustu. Może to przez ich akcent.
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.
Dizzee better Strong 6/10
Familiar with skepta but first time listening to this album. I’m not a fan of grime/U.K. rap with a couple of exceptions. So this one really didn’t do much for me.
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.
Didn’t hate it but also not for me
You know, it had been a while since I'd gotten an album that was clearly only on this list because it was British, but I remedied that today. This album is the very definition of nothing special. The music is fine, if not a bit outdated. The lyrics are pedestrian. I haven't gotten a single Kendrick Lamar album on here, but somehow my bones could not be laid to rest without listening to this album. Crime Riddim legit has a minute and a half skit at the end of it, despite the fact that the song is 4.5 minutes to begin with. Seriously, a lot of this is sonically indistinguishable from the songs put out by QAnon rappers. They're talking about different things, but it's equally bland, and the beats are exactly the same. I hate this. I hate everything about this. This is the worst album I've heard on here since I got that Limp Bizkit album. The history of hip-hop runs deep with great albums, but somehow I got stuck listening to this one. At least until I gave up and listened to something good 1/5
Very odd dynamic. Like someone not gansta trying to be gansta. Just ok for me.
Fine
Not my cup of tea!
While I love the accent, the rapping style lacked musicality and didn't really mesh with the music - that and the simplistic beats made it sound very amateurish
It was fine. Sounded pretty juvenile with the talks about blasting in the face and swearing that adds nothing to the music.
Cool beats and vibes to this sound. But I can’t get behind lyrics talking about blasting someone’s face off. I just can’t.
Lyricism is always preferible to the trap that focused on over production, but some tunes here were painfully amateur in production and hook writing. What makes up for it, and keeps it at a 3, is that some of the up talking bars and cocky delivery were cool and effective.
Entertaining grime album that convinces with its fast beats and rapping style
I guess I didn't realize this was its own genre (grime). I always associated this sound with "UK Hip Hop/Rap". I like it.
Its decent enough. Nothing special, though
Nicht so meins aber ist jz nicht schlecht
Also, so weit ich es verstanden habe, versucht der Künstler in seinen Songs auf POC und deren Diskriminierung in der Musikindustrie aufmerksam zu machen. But idk…it‘s okay, not really my type of music…
It was easy to listen to. Refreshing to hear different country rap music. Although British accents are hard to understand for me, a lot of time I had no clue what he was saying.
not my style of music, but a lot of clever lyrics and ideas in the songs
Not really into English rap, but this was alright it’s defiantly a move tho.