Corner of Chaos
Created | Updated Feb 9, 2006
Skinnyman - Council Estate Of Mind
In 1979 Sugarhill Gang released 'Rapper's Delight', the first rap song; in 1982 'The Message' was released as the first hip-hop song with, surprisingly, a message; by 1988 some Niggaz With Attitude came Straight Outta Compton to 'Express Yourself' and gangster rap hit big. But then, in 2003, Fifty Cent told us that it was his birthday and we should party because it was his birthday, drink Bacardi rum because it was a birthday and that he didn't care (about what we don't know) because it was his birthday. Rap, it seemed, had recessed to an infantile format of swearing, boistrous comments on girls and drugs and not very much else; conversely this was the time when rap music became most succesful yet elsewhere a much more talented rap artist made his debut album to very little acclaim1.
Leeds born rapper Skinnyman, who moved to Finsbury Park, London at the age of four, had released a handful of EPs with his group the Mud Family, worked with members of the Wu-Tang Clan and is rumoured to have beaten Eminem in a rapping contest in London's Subterranea. By 2004, after losing his contract to Def Jam UK and a very short bout of incarceration Skinnyman eventually released his long-awaited, by some, first album in the form of Council Estate Of Mind - a concept album about life on a council estate interspliced with soundclips from the early '80s one-off drama Made In Britain, Tim Roth's acting debut. The over-use of soundclips occasionally bogs down the otherwise cohesive flow of the album and unless the album overwhelms you, they will probably be skipped over, but they do add a sense of mood-setting ambience to the album, even if they are somewhat over-ebbed. The film follows a disillusioned youth in Thatcher's Britain failing rehabilitation and obviously Skinnyman's lyrics mirror this, but more than this they act as a refreshing counterpoint to the saturation of US gangster rap which has devolved into a banal competition of male ego. Though much of Skinnyman's lyrics deal with similar issues, there is a higher level of articulation, more imaginative imagery and a more frank, less boisterous, delivery as Skinny puts forward his views about the state of the youth of today.
The lyrics rate very highly and are not eclipsed, but are almost matched and lost in, the beats behind the words. Though some of the 15 tracks (if you include the spoken introduction) have music which quickly becomes repetative, they are mostly lively or at least draw interest to the song. The opening 'F**k The Hook' is a fast-paced drumbeat mixed with soul singing in the background, dealing superficially with all of the album's issues as a general overview of the record. It certainly does its job with an outstanding effort, grabbing the attention of the listener and pumping up his interest in the track. Later songs 'Love's Gone From The Streets' has an interesting, slower piano led beat, dealing specifically with the aggression, competetiveness and violence of poor, urban areas while 'Life In My Rhymes' sees Skinnyman fully drop his Tim Roth alter-ego for the one track as he raps his way through an interview. The next track 'Its Over' holds a club-sounding electro-synthesized beat, while 'I'll Be Surprised' comes across almost as a jazz tune with its mellow brass section and lazy snare drum.
The final track, an eponymous number climaxing the record with a down-hearted, chilling piano and percussion sound discusses the inevitability of demise in squalid areas. Politically angry, this last song encompasses the general feeling of the album that for the people of London council estates there are many who want to escape, but for most it is too hard, verging on impossible and thus a regrettable life of drugs and violence is inexorable. Again, this is hardly the most original of messages, and sometimes you feel it could have ventured out more but such is the way of a concept album, but something about the mix of music, articulate lyrics and refreshing sound of an English, albeit urbanised, accent makes it attention-grabbing and interesting. Sadly, the dominance of awful American hip-hop (even the good stuff from America is ignored now Eminem has made his last stand) allowed this album, as with all good English hip-hop, to be ignored but hopefully with the appearance of rising rapster, Plan B from London's Forest Gate, perhaps people will start to take notice of the emerging homegrown hip-hop and backtrack to its finest album.
