Well, you might know Mr Drew better as Plan B, which incidentally, is the name that he came up with upon realising that rapping about skull-fu*king corpses and raping old women won't get you to the top of the charts. It was out of that realistation, and the need for a something a little different, from which the phenomenon of Plan B, and the chart-topping album, The Defamation of Strickland Banks, was born.
It's probably fair to say that not many people could see a young and angry rapper switching his musical genre from anger-rap to soul, especially when the soul is designed to fill a concept album, but no-one can argue with the fact that Ben Drew pulled it off spectacularly.
This is a genuinely great album, and one that I didn't expect to like. My first experiences of Plan B were seeing him singing She Said live at a number of festivals last year, and I have to admit that he always sounded to be putting the voice on and struggling with it too. Meaning that I never thought he sounded all that good. On the album however, the vocals are more polished, and it really gives him a platform to enjoy a bit of rapping in and among the soulful high notes.
Actually, the chances that he gets to really vent a bit of frustration and showcase a bit of attitude are the best tracks on here. The 'nice' tracks are all well and good, and will no doubt have made a far bigger impression in the charts, but it's when Plan B gets angry that he produces the best tracks.
Stay Too Long has a trademark catchy chorus, but really motors into action when gets the chance to tuck into a really angry-sounding rant. It's top stuff, and a world away from She Said, the song that almost everyone associates with this album, thanks to it topping the UK charts.
I'm not saying that was a bad song, but it certainly suffered from being overplayed on British radio, and I wouldn't be surprised if it got 'retired' for the live shows before long. Much in the same way that MGMT don't play Kids, and even Bruce Springsteen stopped playing Born in the USA, you can't really blame an artist for not wanting to perform a song that they have played 1,000s of times.
It's interesting to think that Drew doesn't even seem to really like this music. When he went back to his record label after this hit the bigtime and said that he wanted to revert back to 'proper hip-hop', he was told that wasn't an option. But rather than tow the line, he launched his own record label, and will do things as he likes in the future.
It will be interesting to see what comes next, as rumours suggest that a reggae album might be on the way, but only after he has returned to his musical roots, and made another rap/hip-hop album first.
Whatever he chooses to do, there will be plenty of interest from around the world, the only variant is how many of those that rush to listen will like or approve of the direction that he chooses to take next.
For now though, grab a copy of this album, and listen to it all the way through at least twice. It takes both listens to fully appreciate how good it is.
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