THE BRITISH ARE COMING: TGRI’s UK RAP INVASION WEEK – Professor Green

What would happen if you combined 50 Cent and Eminem in the body of a skinny Brit from London? I know this is likely not a hot question in your life, but if you take a second and pause for the story of the UK’s Professor Green, I think you might be intrigued. 27 year old Stephen Manderson grew up with his grandparents in a rough section of East London. Not the typical straight arrow young Briton, young Professor Green sold drugs until he started entering freestyle battles on a lark with his fellow hoodlum friends. His renown as a local wordsmith grew, and by the age of 23, he released his first mixtape which caught the attention of Mike Skinner, AKA The Streets of “Let’s Push Things Forward” fame. A Caucasian Brit with an off kilter flow and a fondness for storytelling, Skinner signed the young emcee to his The Beats imprint, and guided his career slowly, as he won the 2008 JumpOffMyspace freestyle tournament. This win aroused the attention of Virgin Records, which is truly where the UK freshman’s career is of note for this column.

http://www.youtube.com/v/3lVDOda4L9Q?fs=1&hl=en_US

Professor Green’s excellent debut Alive Til I’m Dead almost never came to fruition. In a tale eerily similar to 50 Cent being shot nine times as his single “How to Rob” was gaining underground supremacy, at the height of Green’s underground rise, which included touring with fellow cheeky pop troublemaker from the opulent side of the tracks Lily Allen, he got the word “Lucky” tattooed on his neck. Mere weeks later Green was stabbed in the neck directly above the tattoo, leaving the rising rhymer inches away from death and with an enduring scar that, much like 50’s bullet wounds, are proof that his yet attained goals in this universe had to be reached. On Alive Til I’m Dead, the inklings exist of promise for a career with a possibility of international glory.

http://www.youtube.com/v/GLfEU5lelUM?fs=1&hl=en_US

The debut has gone gold based around sampling of hits that appeal to UK fans of 80s and 90s pop and R & B sounds. Green is still developing as a true emcee, his strengths clearly lie in being a battle rapper ready with Eminem style misogyny. Allowing a rapper with charisma but a passable flow and nascent stylistic development to rap over terrific production is a genius move. Stealing directly from the Puff Daddy playbook in handling the debut for Ma$e, lead single “I Need You Tonight” is exactly that, a song based entirely around producers Tha ThundaCatz reworking INXS’ legendary single. It’s perfunctory, and doesn’t reveal Green’s strengths as an emcee, but lures in mainstream fans without dropping the hammer. The same goes for the outstanding follow up “Just Be Good to Green,” which with Lily Allen on the hook is as melancholy yet alluring as her verses on “Littlest Things” and “Smile.” The romantic yarn is twisted around the SOS Band’s legendary 1983 jam “Just Be Good to Me,” and is taking out the synths and replacing them with minimalist funky breaks producer Semonthy Jones crafts a real winner. However, we veer from Ma$e into the dark depths of Eminem and 50 Cent’s debut records with tracks “Monster” and “Jungle,” “Jungle” especially powered with harsh dub and a visceral video clip showing what Green wants you to know of his formative years in Hackney, a hyper stylized view of urban aggression. This dual vision of him as an emcee actually makes him eminently pop, and for US fans unsure of his placement on our shores? Be aware that he opened for The Game on the LA Blood’s recent UK trek.

Hip hop based around a life of near death experiences, violence and a blase attitude about the importance of love and the opposite sex. It’s a tale that is well worn on the pop charts on our shores, and while an artist like Professor Green may be alive til he’s dead, those moments that he’s above ground are probably going to have massive consequences for the pop charts on both shores.

THE BRITISH ARE COMING: TGRI’s UK RAP INVASION WEEK!

On February 9, 1964, The Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time. John, Paul, George and Ringo were leagues away from being the pop and rock game changers that they evolved into, but insofar as being smiling chipper lads from Liverpool, England, they had that one covered. The 1964 British Invasion was entirely based off of American blues, rockabilly and rock and roll standards being covered by likely the last people you’d ever expect to mimic Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and early era Motown.

Well, it’s 46 years later, and the British method for invading the US hasn’t changed. From punk to metal to R & B and dance music, UK artists have proven to not only be successful, but genre advancers who given their outsider status are allowed the ability to take risks that stateside artists generally refuse to take.

Hip hop has re-expanded itself. Nearing 40 years as a recognized genre, hip hop is now the ultimate power broker in pop music. That being a given, US artists’ overseas expansion with branding, touring and marketing is at an all time high. Of course, with that, there is the inevitable give and take. At various other points when hip hop was gaining in overseas expansion, UK emcees were more than willing to blend US hip hop swagger with UK cool, however, hip hop’s lack of a full global agenda from the American side of the coin did not allow for significant superstar moves for these rappers. There are those internationally like Kardinal Official, MC Solaar and Dizzee Rascal who have achieved a modicum of success but by no means are superstars. However, that’s all about to change.

Let’s point to three key indicators. Foremost, electronic dance music’s hipster fueled rise to prominence has inundated America’s pop ears with all manner of electro, dubstep, techno and deep house in the past five years, sounds that foreign, namely UK based grime and garage emcees have been rapping over successfully for years. As well, Drake, the second coming of Will Smith for hip hop, is from Toronto, Canada, and has been embraced by US hip hop lovers as being likely more skilled than many of his American counterparts. And last but not least, MIA’s “Paper Planes” being as large of a hit as it was made top mainstream labels fully aware of what underground labels without major label access have known for years. World music is the definition of crunk, and starts a party like none other.

With that, we at TGRI feel that there’s yet another successful British invasion on the horizon. Names like Tinie Tempah (goes big on Swedish House Mafia’s “Miami 2 Ibiza”), Tinchy Stryder (Roc Nation signee and widely considered the current top Bristish emcee to British hip hop insiders), Professor Green (a Lily Allen favorite for starters) and Giggs (dark and lyrically weaker than the pack, but a great persona) may appear to be foreign to US hip hop fans, but, hopefully, after this week, you’ll be familiar and prepared for what is coming. What they lack in vertical size they more than compensate for with enormous charisma and talent, and all are worth checking out and choosing a favorite amongst the lot.

http://www.youtube.com/v/3wpCf0FsZKQ&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3

Want a sample? Well, Tinchy Stryder released a track featuring every significant emcee that has aspirations on making it big in the United States in some manner in the next year or two. “Game Over,” a sizzling trunk rumbler of a synth workout is Tinchy’s but also features Giggs, Professor Green, Tinie Tempah, Devlin, Example and Chipmunk. Listen, enjoy and take in the rest of this week’s devotional to the UK scene.