Music Reviews
Artist:
Roll DeepTitle:
Rules and RegulationsLabel:
Roll Deep Recordings
This has been hailed by some as the ‘real’ Roll Deep album to prove that their commercial effort ‘In At The Deep End’ was just a blind stab at overground success. Notable features come from those who didn’t make much of an appearance on the last offering such as Skepta (no JME though, he was doing his dissertation at the time apparently), Manga and Riko on charismatic tunes like ‘Stampers’, ‘Roll Deep Regular 2007’, ‘Celebrate’ and ‘Flame Grilled Whopper’, the latter sees Riko tear up the last verse as if he were on stage at Eskimo Dance with his signature ‘All Informer Fi Dead’ chant over a Wiley beat that sounds like ‘Eskiboy’ played backwards. The co-produced Target and Danny Weed ‘Badman’ isn’t the only consciously led tune featured on the mixtape; ‘Penpals’ and ‘Racist People’ cover topics such as having friends in prison and the recurring topic of racism respectively without sounding soft or corny, “The way I see it, we all eat, shit and sleep whatever the colour human being” explains Trim. However they may have gone a bit overboard with political correctness by blocking out expletives on some tunes like ‘Babylon Burner’ and changing Flo Dan’s lyrics on the said song that were originally more gritty. With that said this mixtape has redeemed the underground status that was temporarily tarnished by their previous effort; they’ve managed to cater for everyone without diverting from the sound where they actually made their name and this will hopefully be the prequel to another Roll Deep album before the year is out.
Rating: 3/5
Release Date: 26/03/07
Words By: Dane Bradshaw
