Anyone doubting grime’s assurance as an art form needs to watch the engrossing short film that accompanies two tracks from Kano’s comeback album, three years on from his Mercury-nominated, Mobo-winning Made in the Manor. Trouble is a deceptively nostalgic tune about living in an everyday war zone that samples the late campaigner Darcus Howe, while Class of Deja finds Kano going head-to-head with veteran MCs D Double E and Ghetts in a furious old-skool back-and-forth that is testament to how thrilling a lyricist this 34-year-old can still be.

You might argue that grime’s tinny immediacy is blunted by maturity and high production values, but Kano’s state-of-the-nation address is both lush and desolate. That such a subtle operator should occasionally reach for the pianos during emotional interludes is slightly regrettable. But overall this excellent album’s clarion-clear narratives about knife crime and the importance of good times – exemplified on Can’t Hold We Down – are delivered not just with anger and pathos, but humour. SYM is a killer closer that finds a gospel choir intoning “Suck your mum” as Kano tenderly croons “Suck your mother if you think these niggas love these cuffs and riots.”