Tinchy Stryder - Star In The Hood

Is there any weak drum n' bass that sounds like it should be soundtracking goal of the month countdown? Choruses nicked from 80s pop hits or kids tv?

I like Kano

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT ILM. sorry where was i.

more than a little wary of overcompensating for the k*no affair (even more disgraceful than even i ever imagined it could be) (a thing so bad in fact that thoughts like "repping the scene" start to gain purchase wtf) but yeah, not bad at all. nothing smashing my face off at the same time yet though, being honest. what's that way of saying 'competent' without it sounding like a putdown again?

(the other thing is tho tht there actually is a fair bit of concessioneering being done here - altho concession is way harsh really cos it is on its own streety terms rather than some sell out biz - but there's a good few proper grimey, proper good tracks tinchy's done this year that i was surprised didn't make the cut. they wouldnt have hurt at any rate.)

(ok no there's only two i can think of: 'sick inna head' and 'sorry, you are?' but they are top a top, honest. anyway though, do carry on)

sounds like it should be soundtracking goal of the month countdown

when has this ever let you down adamrl!!

yeah, I might kind of got overexcited on the initial listen because, sonically at least, this is exactly the grime album I've been saying someone should've released for years. In other words, keep it harsh and abraisive but make sure the whole thing sounds like a beat-em-up soundtrack with catchier and bigger basslines.

Problem is, I wish these tracks had been given to someone better able to dominate a beat and make it about their personality - which Tinchy can't really do (apart from that hattrick of grim/emo tunes in the middle). Maybe he was better before his balls dropped, I dunno.

Catch Em is really sinister, I dunno, it's the combination of those gothic string stabs with that mocking synth line but fucking hell there are a lot of places I wouldn't walk while listening to it.

Dance 4 Now is awesome (equally, not really about Tinchy, I barely listen to him) - is this what they're calling 'niche' then?

I don't think it's Niche (niche tends to be fastier, really LFO'd basslines too). Funky house I suppose.

Not sure what I think of this, bit hit or miss really love the second track, the "da da da daaa" backing vocals are a bit gash but the rest of the beat is sick. Proper Double Dragon business or something.

maybe streets of rage. grime turned its back on nintendo ages ago, idealogically like.

i think tinchy's unexpectedly charismatic on the sweetboy stuff as it goes (cos it's a bit like he's guesting on those tunes i imagine) but yeah there's something about his dead-eyed relentlessness that doesnt quite translate to album format, perhaps even album beats wot arent as equally relentless. he's made his name by being like that though, so it's a tricky one.

hear this, it's what i keep unfavourably comparing the album against.

Ooooooh that is quite good.

I love xtra something awful.

EAST LONDON WHERE THE MANDEM A - BOOK!

often goes through my head all day since I heard it on some mixtape.

The bit about making someone lean back like they were on a Harley, east man like Brian Harvey, jamming like Bob Marley is really funny too (that isn't Tinchy tho is it? I can't seem to remember grime MCs excepting really distinctive ones - JME, Lethal Bizzle, Jammer etc).

i think that is tinch yeah, with someone else coming in in the middle.

xtra's a classic example of a yr occasional grime tune that creeps up, gets you strangely hooked, and then just when you want it to sorta blow and get all caught up in it the bafflingly inept video comes along and you stop caring. if ur me anyway. it's a shame cos it looked like they wanted to do it like they were all shadowy round the campfire casting eldritch mic spells and summoning WRAITHZ and stuff?? that wdve been cool!

since this thread is semi-sorta skirting around the old "grime albums: waht is it made" question: has anyone heard doogz's axiom ep? and if so, what etc

cos it is quite good, in places, but i'm still a little taken aback at the passionate YES THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED ALL ALONG acclaim to it? is it really? perhaps i shouldnt be so surprised by now.

is this the guy that does all those ile threads about awkward social situations?

I know this sounds like splitting hairs, but "this is the album I've been saying someone* should have made all along" is different to "YES THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED ALL ALONG" because what I've really wanted all along is a proper hyperspeed posse type album with fourteen MCs cannoning into one another on every track but let's work with what we've got eh?

*Like I said that someone probably isn't Tinchy although his youthful/bruised combination works well on the more contemplative ones.

titchyschneider's 'why can't i get a job wah wah vol 1' mixtape was a classic, it's true.

yeah no matt i totally get that! i wz referring to the grime community, in response to the doogz, you see, and about how it claims to want the same things you do but then apparently doesn't

and some might well say, b-b-but it's a fake forward on a fake ruff sqwad beat with karaoke mcs so what this advances nothing but it's probly my fave grime tune of 07 hurrah

You should, i dismissed it at first as competent, left it alone for a month, went back and WOW.

-- Tim F, Thursday, 6 December 2007 15:08 (Yesterday)

crumbs, he's right! i wish i had the faintest clue why though, it's a bit disturbing.

is this REALLY that good? i must investigate. the fact that kano said the grime song hes liked most this year (or at least the one he liked most around the time his album came out) was the first single for this, worries me.

I like Tinchy more since his balls dropped, I think (in fact the first few Tinchy performances I heard I hated, him on "Icerink" etc. Surely rtc can school me on this point though).

"Competency" really is the problem here - by which I mean the problem for listening to and responding to this album, rather than the problem with the album as such.

The fact that it really is the album that grime should have made all along - but is appearing 3 or 4 years too late - is strangely de-energising at first, like "oh this would have been cool to hear way back when, but now..."

And then you (or, rather, I) go back and throw it on and think "okay this is still really cool to hear because it was never done way back when."

Makes me think of Adorno: "Grime, which once seemed outmoded, remains alive because the moment of its realization was missed."

I still say the Statik album was the grime album that should have been made all along and well he made it. I wonder what he does now.

yeah, whatever did happen to statik? he invented grindie and promptly fell off the face of the earth. karma for you i guess.

that album though, really alex? i do not recall it being much cop.

can't really remember much early tinchy either! i think what musical appeal he then had (cos his main appeal at least critically was of the "oh this evil 10 yr old child is simply delightful! look darling, he's shanking my leg" variety) related to his random high-pitched jabbering making riddims sound even more hectic. i do like how he's become a bit of a mysterious heartthrob now though, he has a distance other mcs don't have. beau e3 if you will.

No seriously it's great! The vinyl version is maybe a little better (featuring the awesome "Superdoop" w/ D Double), but the CD has the "Charge Remix", "Polygraph", "Never Guess", "The Set", "Showermanville", which are all great. Plus dig the awesome cover:
http://www.ukrecordshop.com/shop/product_image.php?imageid=430

I always wanted that Statik album owing to "Charge (Remix)" being my tune, but never found it :-(

http://www.ukrecordshop.com/shop/catalog/Statik__Connected__EXCLUSIVE_p_17677.html

It's still availabe here I think.

ok,

1. 'superdoop' sucked!! 10 minutes of d double buggering about on the top gun theme tune, 80s cockrock much?

2. tim 'charge remix' is not ur tune, it's regular charge and correct me if i'm wrong alex but it's not even on the album!! the remix was wack!

3. the picture cover for the charge 12 was better than the cartoon jobbo, it was a big skool project collage of grime clippings! if i find it in the next 3 minutes i will take a picture!

4. 'never guess' feat demon and ghetto was the best on that i think

1) Haha well we are going to have to agree to disagree then, cuz I think it's great 80s cockrock (about a million times better than "Uptown Girl" or "The Avenue" haha.)

2) Yeah only remix is on the album.

3) I've never seen it, but whatever the album cover is ace.

4) I like "Polygraph" plenty too, but it is great. I forgot about "The Rave" bonus track thing that is on my version. That's excellent too.

Plus I like that it's a grime album he put out basically himself, actually like sequenced like an album with neat little interludes, not some mix-tape maybe album with half-a-dozen duff tracks with lame american hip hop instrumentals or some other such nonsense. It's way better than anyone who wasn't Dizzee was managing at the time (well the Wiley album had it's moments too, but yeah.)

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/snouts/charge.jpg

yeah alright probly ain't all that, but still cuet!

(cough) I still think Aim High 2 is the most consistently thrilling grime album released (cough)

oh now you've gone and done it.

makes me think of adorno: "the splinter in your eye is the best grime album"

"All culture after 'Pulse X' is garbage"

I like Aim High 2 fine, but I don't think it's better than the original Lord of the Decks or Essentials Heating or the Nasty Crew mix.

um, tinchy touching mic on a gang gang dance tune: http://www.myspace.com/ganggangdance

I was right about this album all along. I still find myself playing Perfect Timing, Dance 4 Now and (especially) Something About Your Smile pretty regularly.

I like that Gang Gang Dance track (and the album it's on) a lot.

i'm kinda unsure of them from what i've heard of them but that track was pretty hot (and would have still been without the spitting).

"Princes" is incredible, even moreso with the weird trilling intro that wasn't on early leaked mp3s.

So yeah, if you basically accept that this is Fisher Price grime and adjust your expectations accordingly, Catch 22 isn't actually that bad and in a few places is actually enjoyable. But fucking hell, Tinchy really has nothing interesting to say at all. He doesn't have a single memorable line in the whole record.

my sentimental self is loving this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV7nt3QuNiU

any more tunes sounding like this?

You've heard the Olive tune it's sampled from, presumably?

tune in to 1xtra and listen for a day or two. if you have an iphone, RadioBox will allow you to play all the bbc streams on 3g so you can walk around and play bbc. anyway, 1xtra will sort you out with similar sounding tunes.

Of course I heard the Olive tune! it's where the sentiment comes from

are those radio stations one can hear online too?

Major Lazer 'Keep it Goin' Louder' is the far superior Olive rip

yes, you can hear 1xtra online bbc.co.uk/1xtra

Major Lazer 'Keep it Goin' Louder' is the far superior Olive rip

brrr no way

i dont hear Olive in it either.

it's exactly the same hook but not a direct sample (unless they've pitched it down and chopped up a bit which could well be the case)

it has the same (but slowed down) synth line yeah...but to me i hear nothing but an Akon rip off in that track...and I uhh detest Akon...

the Stryder tune keeps the original alive, cheaper maybe but it works for me!

toeachizown. don't like AKONOMICS much either but think the Stryder is actually guiltier of this than ML.

So it looks like this isn't available on CD anymore. Anyone have any idea where I can get my hands on a copy?

"star in the hood" is such a lolbritish phrase

right?