Low-Life | UK Hip Hop Story | Shameless - A Shameless Introduction Sampler EP

Intro

Early Doors:
1979-1985

False Dawn:
1985-1990

Underground Years:
1990-1995

The Renaissance:
1995- 2000

The Future:
2000 & Beyond

Artists &
Discographies

Shameless - A Shameless Introduction Sampler EP [Dat Sound]

I have just checked out a very nice 12" from Shameless. He has apparently been on the mic for 7 years, but only in the last three has he been taking his skills public, and is now moving into gear with this EP sampler in the run up to the release of a longer 9 track EP. He is East London through and through, but also recognises his Irish heritage and as such some may say he has a bit of a paint by numbers / photo fit feel about him, the similarities in his accent to the likes of Task Force can't be denied, but it is not surprising considering they are almost from the same manor. Shameless says he has been into Hip Hop since his first record purchase at the age of nine - Ice Cube's Amerikkka's Most Wanted, but he has been in his formative years by Jungle riddims on pirate radio. He's been building with Live shows along with his live DJ Tommysparks and recently has had support from 1 Xtra and other important radio shows.

This wax contains three vocal tracks and their respective instrumentals all of which are doing it for me. Each track emulates a specific type of track and across the whole EP you can see that Shameless is versatile and competent. For the opening track Champion Flow Shamless hits us with everything up front, throwing in his crew members, M.G. who takes the second verse and Deviant D of GD (the Grand Desciples) who rounds up the third verse for a heavy posse cut. Both MG and to a lesser extent Deviant D have a touch of a ragga feel and tomplete the track Shamless introduces the sweet female vocals from Rose to fill up the chorus. Shameless kicks it off and immediately lets the listener know exactly what his ambitions are. He wants to make it big and with the production across the whole EP by DAT he has good backing. This track is classic Hip Hop and well produced. The main sample if I am right is from Peter Gabriel and the guys will have to watch out if they get much exposure because Peter Gabriel has be known to come down on unauthorised use like a Sledgehammer.

Track two, Concrete Waves is the more urban observation / 'look what is around me' type track. For this the sample is a Spanish guitar and the backing track is hooked up nicely. The only gripe I have across the production is the selection of drum sounds which for me could have been a little thicker - the snare for example being a relaxed rimshot, rather than a right thwacking zinger of a snare. Contrastingly the kik kicks and to compensate this the bass notes sound really warm and nice for a synth. The chorus gives you a complete depiction of what the track is saying, "Look deep into my eyes and see what I see, feel my heat beat and watch my pen breath, each word I write I cast a cool breeze and blow a sentence across the seas".

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The final track U Never Know is the track with the more complicated flows, but I do feel that a few of the actual lyrics can either be filler lines or sound vaguely familiar e.g. "swing through the jungle like Tarzan". Never the less between these odd lines there is severe niceness and he links up all his couplets with ease in a very intelligible way. Despite all the nit picking I have done regarding certain elements of the tracks I don't want you to think I am being over harsh. I should go on to simply say that the whole package overrides these problems I have highlighted. So overall the EP has all the angles covered, and despite some of its slightly formulaic structure I still think it is better than average and definitely worth checking.

The EP comes to a close with a funny Skit with Shameless' father giving him a dressing down.

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