Paul MacInnes 

Tinchy Stryder: Third Strike – review

Tinchy Stryder's seen the competition from fellow British MCs over the last 12 months, and he's toughened up, reckons Paul MacInnes
  
  


"09 was all mine," barks Tinchy Stryder on the intro to this album. "Padlocked it, had that". He certainly did, with two No 1 singles and a gold album as proof. A year's a long time in UK pop-rap, though, and a new group of artists – including Tinie Tempah and Professor Green – have had comparable, if not greater success in the past 12 months. Stryder's response, by and large, has been to toughen up. His flows are taut and delivered with a snap. There's a lot of shredded guitar and warped bass, sampled gangstas and laddish oi-oi-ing. It's hardly unfamiliar, but it's got enough swagger to pull you along. There's even a British posse cut, featuring Green and Tempah among others. Unfortunately, the gloss is almost entirely removed by four nightmarish outbreaks of euro&b, of which Tomorrow is the worst.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*