Lethal Bizzle
Against All Oddz
(J-Did/ V2)
£11.99
The Mitchell Brothers
A Breath of Fresh Attire
(The Beats)
£13.99
Remember grime? It was supposed to take over the world - or the UK charts, at the very least. As Dizzee Rascal was being shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize two years ago, record labels were busy recruiting anyone in north-east London chatting in scansion into their mobile phone. Some time has passed, and pop remains resistant to the threatened patina of grime. Shystie's album didn't convert the nation to the twitchy, silver-tongued sound of the inner cities. Roll Deep's single, 'The Avenue' charted at 11 last week, but it took a sunny-day soul sample with 'please let me cross over' etched all over it to do the job.
All this might be about to change, as grime finally produces not one but two very good albums. As ever, it would probably be more accurate to call this collision of rapid-fire London accents and a constellation of different production styles 'UK hip hop'. But Lethal Bizzle - or Lethal B, as he was - was incontrovertibly a prime mover in the great grime sign-up.
Back at the dawn of the decade, he was in More Fire Crew, an east London collective who, post-UK garage, signed to Polydor and had a Top 10 hit with 'Oi!' But after 'Oi!', Polydor parted company with More Fire.
Burned, Lethal B went back to work and reemerged last year with 'Pow! (Forward)', an explosive hit single that united a dozen of the fiercest MCs from often warring crews. It caused riots in clubs; his tracks are still banned from many venues. His long-awaited debut album doesn't have 'Pow!' on it - a regrettable omission - but it does make grime accessible without losing too much of its fierce, unassimilable edge. 'I slowed it down so you could understand,' Lethal spits at one point, but he doesn't tidy it up like contemporaries Kano, Roll Deep and Shystie did on their albums. Like many of the best rap records, Against All Oddz is autobiographical, almost solipsistically so. 'Shame' steals from 'It's a Shame' by Monie Love to tell the More Fire story; the sombre and paranoid title track charts Lethal B's ambivalent relationship to success, and 'Should of Known' [sic] details his betrayal by an old friend. There are R&B choruses and Kanye West-aping samples, but Against All Oddz is a resolutely British record, chippy and lairy.The sexually graphic tracks make uncomfortable listening, but they are consistent with what's played on pirate radio and in the clubs.
If Against All Oddz echoes with peculiarly British flows and beats in a naturalistic way, the Mitchell Brothers amp their Englishness up even further. Dropping in references to Harvey Nicks, Liverpool FC and Trisha, jobseeker's allowance, ParcelForce and grasses, they're named after the warring siblings off EastEnders. They wear Fred Perry and tailored trousers rather than baggy US sportswear. Nurtured and produced by Mike 'The Streets' Skinner, their debut album bears his indelible stamp (as well as his occasional interjections).
It would be fascinating to hear what cousins Tony and Teddy would sound like without Skinner at the controls, because A Breath of Fresh Attire sounds so like his own records. But that's a minor quibble, because the Mitchells' thoroughly enjoyable debut is laugh-out-loud funny, full of magnificent swearing, and boasts a handful of great tracks.
Most will have heard 'Routine Check' by now - their acerbically amused account of being repeatedly stopped and searched. Skinner's given them their very own 'Dry Your Eyes' in 'She's Got It All Wrong', a big, blokey weepie.Perhaps even more impressive is the miniature crime thriller 'Someone Can't Look Us in the Eye', in which a martial beat and an operatic hook underscore a well-observed tale of betrayal. Mostly, though, the Mitchells argue and swear at each other like a couple of East End Gallaghers, getting drunk and trading lines.
In fact, when it comes down to it, the Mitchells and Lethal Bizzle share little more than an accent and a few beats. But both artists should be heartily applauded for finally making grime pay.
