Album: Skepta – Doin’ It Again

Skepta
Doin’ It Again
All Around The World
3 stars

Most grime novices will know the name Skepta as being that of the man partly to blame for an embarrassing dance craze, known as the ‘Rolex Sweep’ (a kind of, ghetto Macarena). But he may also have reached your radar lately in the form of the recent chart tracks ‘Bad Boy’ and ‘Rescue Me’, both taken from his third studio album Doin’ it Again.

With this release, Skepta is the next grime artist to take on the transition from underground acclaim to chart success, in search for international recognition. The question is whether he has managed to succeed in this task, without losing the purity of his grime roots.

He has certainly had a good crack, but there is still an element of disappointment caused by the content-light lyricism of tracks such as ‘Thrown in the Bin’, and by one too many gratuitous guest appearances from the likes of N Dubz; Eastenders actress, Preeya Kalidas and Chipmunk, which seem out of place next to the self-professed ‘king of grime’. The irony of the album’s title is that Skepta is not ‘Doin’ it Again’ in quite the same way he did with second studio album, Microphone Champion, but seems to have succumbed to the pressures of appealing to the wider pop audience at the expense of some authenticity.

However, two stand out tracks remain; the dubstep influenced ‘Rescue Me’, with it’s strong choppy bassline and heavy synth backdrop perfectly complimenting the rapper’s blunt lyrical delivery, and an exceptional remix of P Diddy’s ‘Hello Good Morning’, both of which deserve high praise. Despite not being likely to satisfy many pure grime fans out there, Doin’ it Again’s catchy beats and choruses, combined with Skepta’s distinctive voice and flashes of sharp wit, mean that the album is still likely to be a hit with a wider modern audience.

Sarah Pollen