Blak Twang - Speaking From Xperience
Racking up some 13 years in the UK hip-hop scene since his first 12s started bubbling up from SE8 back in 1995, the artist known variously as Tony Rotten, Taipanic and Blak Twang certainly has previous. Guest spots on Twang records gave crucial leg-ups to two of the scene’s most celebrated talents - Roots Manuva and Estelle - and he has outlasted any of his contemporaries of the ’95 vintage. Mention The Brotherhood or Silent Eclipse to any but the most obsessive trainspotters and you’re likely to be met with a vacant, quizzical look.
There are several reasons for Twang’s longevity. Firstly his unreleased opus ’Dettwork South East’ is regarded as UK hip-hop’s holy grail, an unflinching masterpiece, filtering Nas’ Illmatic-era project narratives through life on the Tanners Hill estate in South East London. His booming Nigerian tones still resonate and are instantly recognisable, in the tradition of many of hip-hop’s best loved emcees.
This stoic reliability is ultimately the making and downfall of his fifth full-length, ’Speaking From Xperience’. Since third album ‘Kik Off’ secured a hit with ‘So Rotten’, you can roughly separate Twang’s output into three categories, aggro rallying calls (‘We Gonna Win’, ‘Nah I Ain‘t Done‘), reflective slow-burners (‘Raplife’, ‘So Hard’) and reams of what could be termed ‘landfill dancehall’. Unfortunately, Tony’s predilection for Jamaican toasters and crooners often overshadows his better judgement, and the popularity of ‘So Rotten’ dangled a carrot he still seems to be hopelessly pursuing. The sheer length of the album tires at times also, there’s certainly at least a third which could be trimmed off and the woeful interludes don’t help much either.
Still fond of football-related similes and personification, (“Running round with no skills like you Robbie Savage”, “I’m not on another level, I’m the Champions League“) Rotten nonetheless shows he can keep up with the young bucks as on ‘Legends’ where he matches guest Sway’s rapid-fire flow. Estelle pops up on ‘Nu N’uh’ to lend her classy vocals and her contacts book as Kanye-cohort Rhymefest hooks up the disjoined cross-Atlantic collaboration ‘Tale Of 2 Cityz’.
While ’We Gonna Win’ skilfully links Jean Charles De Menezes with various other exhortations about crooked, racist governments and ’Champagne Lifestyle’ wittily bemoans wannabes living on a “Coca-cola budget”, the main problems with the majority of tracks here stem from unambitious, staid production, largely attributed to the conglomerate-sounding Silverstone Beats. New jacks and trendies may be Tony’s worst nightmare but there’s no doubting the revitalising effect of the likes of Toddla T and Metronomy on former running-mate Roots Manuva’s latest. Similarly, Ninja Tune production wizard The Bug worked wonders with the chaotic hybrids of London’s black music scenes on his masterful ‘London Zoo’ album.
Reminiscing, as he does on closer ’96’ may be one of Tony’s fortes, but he needs to do some looking forward if he’s to craft another gem on a par with his long-lost debut.
5/10
