This is a startlingly powerful debut from British trio
Sleepin' Giantz, whose music resists easy categorization. What you'll hear is not just a mishmash of elements drawn from hip-hop, grime, dubstep, dancehall, house, 2-step, and U.K. garage, but something much more difficult: a seamless and carefully realized blend of those traditions into something new. The reggae and dancehall elements are most obvious in the frequently Jamaican inflections of MCs
Rodney P (
London Posse) and
Fallacy; the grime, dubstep, and garage elements are provided by the brilliant DJ/producer
Zed Bias, who builds backing tracks from a churning welter of samples, loops, and beats. That he's able to create compelling accompaniment for
Rodney P and
Fallacy's raps out of grimy and funky tracks like "Mucky" and "Raving Bully" isn't too surprising, but that he succeeds similarly with the house-derived "MC, Pt. 1" is really impressive, and when he blends house and dancehall on the viciously banging "Badungdeng" the results are even more so. Clunkers? A couple: "Hand Grenade" is less than the sum of its parts -- a good funk groove that supports good rapping, but never really coheres -- and "Kerosine" is by-the-numbers soca rap. But the highlights outnumber the disappointments by a great number, and more than make up for them. Overall, this is a brilliant debut. ~ Rick Anderson