Quick Reviews...

Spank Rock - YoYoYo

When you discuss the current state of Hip-Hop down the pub over a few Stella’s, you usually establish the following:

Southern Hip-Hop is actually rubbish
New York Hip-Hop is dead
Being a weed carrier is a dangerous job
When is that Clipse album coming?
Stella will make you angry

Then you’ll long for something to come along that’s brand new and fresh.

Well in Spank Rock that brand new ish is here.

Hailing from Baltimore these four party boys are signed to Big Dada over here and have created a lot of anticipation on the Internet. Their debut album YoYoYo has lyrics that your girlfriend or parents will give disapproving looks to as standards in looking at woman as sexual objects goes back 20 years, while the inner b-boy in you will crave those funky beats.

Spank Rock consist of deejays Chris Rockswell and Ron Darko, producer Armani XXXchange and MC Naeem Juwan. Together they have put together an album that’s creativity blends elements of Dizzee Rascal, Missy Elliott and the Beastie Boys with lyrics that pay homage to 2 Live Crews Luke.

The opener Back Yard Betty is about an ass-shaking competition, Sweet Talk is anything but and the track Touch Me leaves little to the imagination. The standard 16 bar, verse, 16 bar formula goes out the window with tracks like IMC and the underground hit Rick Rubin changing styles constantly.

While the South are currently recycling the same old style and a bunch of average emcees fight out who is New York’s best, a group from Baltimore are running with the original Hip-Hop aesthetic of originality and while combining styles from their influences have given hope to this genre which has been stale for months.
This month’s essential purchase and a soundtrack to the summer (when it eventually, if ever, starts)