While a lot of MCs are heading for chart success, with pop excuses for grime, Ghetts brings us his long-awaited ‘Calm Before The Storm', fusing the best elements of UK hip-hop and grime into his pre-album massacre...
He dives right in with his fast-pasted ‘Intro’, tapping on every issue that fans and critics have addressed since his last release, 'Freedom Of Speech'. With topics concerning clashing P Money, grime politics, label deals and personal lyrical levels, the introduction sets the stride for the hurricane yet to come.
His distinctive, vigorous delivery on ‘Brainless’ and ‘Dosein It’ form together the best elements of his previous release. With his selection of flows, Ghetts balances his hardcore, aggressive, roadside tracks, alongside insightful songs that have a ‘Ghetto Gospel’ - which was his second release - ingredient.
‘Job For You’ softens the edge to the harsher topics and concentrate on similar issues, but the angle is brought together by the Dot Rotten-aided chorus. The fundamental factors of the track shows just how helpful a constructive hook can empower Ghetts, commanding verses even more.
Just how ‘The Greatest’ shined, ‘By Shy’ is an example of how his format had the potential to be a lethal flash of lightning, but the lack of a strong chorus left its impact to just a soft breeze. Further development with choruses and additional experimentation with better production could have taken tracks like ‘My Sperm’ from a good track, to a very strong song.
While the production combines elements of hip-hop, grime dominates the collection and on ‘Grimedaily’, the east London MC addresses his personal love and battle with the grime sound, giving an understanding to the underlying echoes of the full thunder before the real storm.
Maxsta, Youngsta and Badness are among those who contribute to Ghetts' latest offering, but it has to be ‘We Control This’ that combines the best on the bill, with Devlin and Griminal holding their own corners by adding their own exclusive splash of originality to the mixture.
Fans of Ghetts will definitely not be disappointed, as the CD gives a collective meltdown of all the proclaimed previous releases into one release, although there does leave a space for improvement for the official cyclone - which we hope these tweaks will be addressed on.
3.5/5
Ghetts: 'Calm Before The Storm' - is out now.
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Words: Laura ‘Hyperfrank’ Brosnan
Online editing: Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson
