Hands up who is a big fan of the chart-topping rap artist Stephen Paul Manderson? Anyone? No, I joke, I imagine that only his mum still calls him that.
I am of course referring to Professor Green, yet another one of those artists that I was desperate to dislike, for a long time, until seeing him live. I've got to admit that when I did, I actually warmed to him, quite a lot.
I think the main reason is that 'the Prof' isn't a manufactured act at all. He actually won the freestyling rap battle world championships. Which, I suppose, gives him the right to do all the rapping that he wants to. Okay, so he might rely on using samples to make the tracks that he releases as singles hits, but it is hard to argue that his samples aren't pretty good.
He first came to prominence with I Need You Tonight, a catchy tune featuring Ed Drewett that flew to number three in the UK charts. Sampling INXS's Need You Tonight. Fans of the original song might not take kindly to some young upstart messing with their favourite songs, but he honestly does make a good job of it.
The strange thing about Prof' Green is probably that he looks, and sounds like an 18-year-old, however he is actually approaching his 30s. His high-pitched voice makes him sound like a kid rapping about drugs and such, that is easy to dislike, but a bit of research has made me respect him a little more.
To be fair to the lad, I was never going to truly dislike him when he got Lily Allen involved on a track. Just Be Good to Green may well be less of a sample and more like a remake to the SOS Band's Just Be Good to Me, but Allen's vocals set it off really well against the backing track. The pair tell the story of a woman no longer interested in the Prof, and he doesn't take it well. As narrative tracks go, it's a bit of novelty fun, but also very good. I can see why it did so well in the charts.
His other chart hit to date, Monster (featuring Example), takes a step away from the pop that the previous two singles featured heavily, concentrating more on being a 'dirty' grime track, but sees two of the UK's brightest stars in the field doing what they do best. Don't be surprised to see the duo featuring in each other's sets when the festival comes around.
Elsewhere on the album, contributions from The Streets and Maverick Sabre show how much the young(ish) man is respected in his chosen field, and I can honestly say that my initial thoughts about him were wrong.
I saw him perform live at Bingley Festival last year, and really wanted to dislike him, but couldn't. The music was infectious, and for a drunk fat lad in a field, it was almost impossible to not want to dance to. I can only imagine that said fat lad, who will almost certainly be drunk again, will be busting out a few moves when Green hits the stage at this year's Glastonbury.
The SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me".
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