Whitechapel
Famous Last Words
Just had a listen to a few of them.
Ocean Wisdom...he's really rather good, isn't he?
It's a shame that Kano's headline performance at Glastonbury this year is not streamable. It was absolutely stunning, by far the highlight of the whole broadcast.
I’d argue Ocean Wisdom is probably one of the most underrated artists in the country. One of the fastest rappers in the world, incredible flow & the most ridiculous lists of collaborations you’ll ever see (can’t be (m)any other artist who have songs with Fatboy Slim, Method Man, Akala & LD).
Also it’s brilliant to be listening to a proper top class rap album and hear Cardinal Newman or Shoreham get referenced
Great list from [MENTION=29779]Whitechapel[/MENTION]. If I can add a few:
Akala - Find No Enemy is a good introduction.
Mic Righteous - have a look at No More Part 2 on YouTube, and if you like that Kim K's Butt (not content you'd expect from the title perhaps) is another. Then dive in to a rich catalogue. The more you learn about his family background and psychological challenges (which he's very open about in the content) the more powerful and compelling a lot of it gets.
Devlin - not someone I listen to but popular with many, Community Outcast is maybe representative
For more political British rap Lowkey and Logic are people commonly cited.
Edit: also have a look at Jehst - Alcoholic Author, and Chester P - Fire in the Streets for some examples of wordplay and the different kind of lyrics you can get in UK rap. That Jehst track is nearly 20 years old but still sounds fresh.
Great list
And to think we haven’t even mentioned Slowthai, Wretch 32, Ghetts, CASisDead, Four Owls, Dabbla, Loyle Carner, Scroobius Pip, Skinnyman, Klashnekoff, Rodney P… it’s literally never ending and that’s without getting in to grime artists who are more about the flow than bars.
And even then I haven’t mentioned Drill, because whilst the beats have probably made it my most listened to genre atm, I am fully aware that the lyrical content means it’s probably never going to come close to being accepted on here so I’ll save myself the effort