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The sequel to THE compilation of 2000 arrives and its got a lot to live up to given the quality that was to be found on the original Wordlab compilation. This one weighs in at 13 tracks and 55 minutes...feast your eyes on this:
So we start off with some Lowlife business with Braintax, this time teaming up with Mystro, last seen on his own excellent solo EP. 'Everybody in the room raise up and everybody in the club take a break'. A nice jazz stab over a solid beat and quality vocals from both men. Interesting styles which both differ and complement each other nicely. Good stuff. Up to Notts for Scorsayzee with his unmistakable Midlands twang (think a male Tempa if you've not heard him before). Standing alone from his Out Da Ville crewmates he makes a more than competent show over a solidly produced track with rumbling b-line and a clicky drum track. Titan Sounds representing next with The Extremists and Skeme and probably the hardest cut on the album, - horns, sirens, rumbles and snare heavy drums. The Extremists EP was probably one of the most slept on of last year and teaming up with Skeme doesn't do any wrong. 'world cup final for rappers - i'm scoring hat tracks' Familiar sounds next with the C.O.N. Artists Salsa Smurf...the L.Dolo production that people seem to love or hate. It's grown on me a lot since the 12" release but the 6 MCs (Apollo, Jehst, Profound, Supa T, Lewis P and AM) don't really impress in the way we know they can and the vocoder 'Do The Salsa Smurf' still annoys... Taskforce turn nasty on us with a lighthearted jazz cut...'its us, we're back'...I didn't realised they'd gone anywhere. Production on this track is very nice indeed, some sub-surface variation rather than just one jazz loop over and over again. I dunno if singing about being nasty over a track as summery as this works, but as always with the McBain Bros there's some fine lyrics to extract - 'Taskforce stay nasty, like girl who wants sex with a dirty punani'. Estelle coming next with her first cut since the Skitz all-female collaboration and this track sounds like it could have been Skitz produced as it's got his rumbling trademarks. Althought undoubtedly having more skills than most this one doesn't really impress as a track though and it's soon forgotten in the memory, not that there's anything wrong with it, but if you're going to step onto a Wordlab you've got to step with something blinding Back to Notts for a track off his recent solo EP for Son Records - Styly Cee with fellow Notts MC's Karizma and Midnyte. Yet more jazz breaks over nice solid beats and some competent scratching. The differing flows come off well and there are some nice lines if a bit obvious - 'I'm surrounded by plastic twelve inches in diameter, keeping it professional because i'm not an amateur'. Coupled with the Scorsayzee track these three MCs certainly hold their own alongside the capitals representatives on this album and proves it's not just a London ting.
Ricochet Klashnekoff, a new artist (to me) from Hackney comes next with a ragga ting intro and some daggo mentality...yet another solid tune with quality production (if a little repetitive) and some nice mic skills. The original Wordlab represented turntablism by featuring the En4cerz. This time around we've got Plus One and Kela doing a beatbox/DJ thing....I think. Can't work out if Kela's doing beatbox or not, if he is then it's far less obvious than his recent Jazz Fudge EP and could just be a production track if we didn't know the artist involved. It's a bit of a 2-step breakbeat affair and doesn't fit in with the album...all very interesting for what it is but a bit of a weird filler in this album. Showcase single 'Don Gramma' next....those with the original from last year won't recognize much of it, given a new electro production and added vocals from Blak Twang and Seannie T alongside Karl Hinds. Never heard Seannie T before....his verse reminds me heavily of Alkaline from Gunshot. Very accomplished track from these three which points towards a good future with the assorted projects they're involved together in. A totally new name to me, Skillion Grimes brings the penultimate track, a ragga-tinged chorus over a nice mellow rumbling bass. Doesn't make an instant impression but give it a few listens and there seems to be something there. Who is this hitherto unheard of MC? And it's left to the re-united Ty & Shortee Blitz, the latter even making his MC debut for a few bars, to finish up the package. A funky backing track with subtle keys and guitar samples, quality Ty lyrics as we saw throughout his stunning debut and a rather bizarre finish. That's the track by track runthrough. I've had it for a day, probably listened to it right through a dozen times and it's still growing. As the original Wordlab there's a nice variation of production and mic styles, some, like Braintax & Mystro, are instant, others are growers and ones to open your head to and listen to the MC. There's not any majorly weak tracks, just ones that don't quite cut it alongside the standard some of them set. For a compilation it's top notch and with 10 current exclusives it's going to be well worth the money. Last year we were spoilt with two Raw Materials LPs, Wordlab and a number of different label compilations. This year doesn't show any sign of heading that productive so there really will be no excuse not to pick up this record.
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The Phi-Life remix of Mark B & Blade's recent top 30 hit(!) 'Ya Don't See The Signs' (co-incidentally the original version was on the original Wordlab) comes next and I've already raved about this remix enough. Solid, quality track. On with the stuff you won't recognize...
