Customer Reviews

Council Estate of Mind

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4 star:		(3)
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For all those who like slept on hip-hop, you have to grab this album. The rhymes and beats are soo much tighter than anything ripping up the charts. From start to finish this album is awesome. If you consider yourself a hip-hop fan & have never heard this cat, then you should feel ashamed. A true UK hip-hop classic!

This is a solid Brit-hop release. Production leans more towards the simplistic in terms of beats while depending heavily on old soul and R&B samples (in regards to samples think Moby's "Play" or "Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers"). Skinnyman's flow is more than adequate yet nothing strikes me as spectacular. In all honesty I don't know his story or history, he does however have the requisite attitude and the braggadocio of a weathered MC, "been around ever since the days of boogie down/you can check my resume the evidence can be found."

If you're already familiar with British hip-hop (more specifically British hip-hop derived from the American model rather than something like The Streets whick is closer to UK garage) you will most likely enjoy this album. If this will be your first foray I would recommend Roots Manuva's "Brand New Second Hand" or "Run Come Save Me" first. You might also want to check out The Creators' "The Weight." I'm not trying to take away from "Council Estate of Mind" like I said it is a solid album. I personally think "I'll Be Surprised" is one of the best hip-hop tracks I've heard in a long time. "F' the Hook" and "No Big Ting" are other stand-outs.

Although surprisingly, having been a key figure in the U.K. Hip-hop scene since the early 80's, it's only now that he's actually recorded a full-length debut (several spells in prison, tracks written on a different record label, that subsequently folded...set things back several years). And having finally managed to get it together with his D.J. (DJ Flip), they've dropped the remarkable "Council Estate of Mind", as incisive, disillusioned, slightly disturbing, and newspaper worthy reportage on the U.K. society's inherent and repeated failure, to address it's poorer boroughs as there has ever been. It's a heady swirling descent into, poverty / Drug use / rampant crime / teenage sex and the realisation of being the social underclass, in your own society.

The production here (courtesy of DJ Flip/ DJ Noize / Baby J / Adam M / & Stone), is a mostly unfussy job, with sparse, beat-reliant numbers, that are mostly stripped of any flashy arrangements. And with most of the work here not stretching much beyond the standard production job, being more like a budget low-level Kayne-West production style, with sped-up soul samples (although to a far lesser degree), or a bluesy piano riff, a little guitar there, and some R&B/Soul rhythms. But, by and large, think of the minimal, spare, intricately layered arrangements that are there, are to give maximum space for Skinnyman's narratives, and you'll be heading in the right direction. For an album such as this, it's all about his bitter, aggressive & occasionally volatile, harsh and confrontational lyricism, that bristles with a studied tension. Spinning tales of an inner-city mindset ("Council Estate of Mind"), carrying yourself from one situation to the next ("Day to Day Basis"), unrelenting violence (I'll be surprised").

Skinnyman's, ability to step up lyrically is hugely impressive, unafraid to take hip-hop into question, with tracks like: "I feel proud if I'm leavin crowds cryin' for more, This year I'm really thinkin bout tryin a tour....Is hip hop worth dying for, if your life's on the line and your only crime is being poor?" (from "F__k The Hook"). And it's lyrics such as that that highlight Skinnyman's supreme gifts as a lyricist and although there is a distinct lack of the complicated and expansive vocabulary that fans of U.S. hip-hop might be accustomed to, it's made up for with a vivid imagination, and an unsparing anger and frustration with his life, that makes for such a compelling listen.

A lot of Skinnyman's remit is his detailing of his hometown and social life, and this is picked over with a fine toothcomb, and although the subject matter tends to revolve around guns, drugs and violence, disrespect from others, retribution, and being poor....it's altogether delivered with a sense of years of pent-up anger, his many years in the game serving him incredibly well. Although the album is largely humour-free, there are the occasional bouts of introspection, where Skinnyman is willing to look at how things have been gradually falling apart: "It's like a gamble for your life on this manor so you hope that you win or else you'll just be runnin shook, and I can't tell you how to live any better I ain't no big ting....trust me listen to the hook" (from "No big Ting").

Admittedly the vast majority of the album, deals with the day to day trials of being part of London's social underclass, but when raised and brought up in that environment, what else are you going to rap about??....if you're are going drop lines like: "Jus' like a criss girl I knew who f__ked man for a taste of pipe, No-one's ready to face up to these fights.....But you find some mad s**t on these council, estates at night...So lock your s**t down safe an tight, And stand firm like a soldier so you don't lose face, all right?" (from "Hayden"), how the are you expected to spin tales of self-improvement and forward thinking, if your life has been pre-disposed to lifestyle such as this??. And although Skinnyman doesn't tend to glorify his lifestyle, he certainly isn't afraid to detail it, in unflinching detail.

Personally speaking, I can relate to a lot of what Skinnyman raps about, as I grew up in a similar postcode such as him, and although I made a point of not running with the sort of crowd that he did, I'm all too aware that growing up in the poorer inner city boroughs, feels like that odds are largely stacked against you. Admittedly this doesn't define you, but it certainly has the potential to make you a more cautious/aggressive/insecure/angry person because of it. Take the track "I'll be surprised"...which is basically about making through to the next day, where he drops the line: "Tonight's there's gonna be a massacre, Straight after the sun goes down. Gonin' out for all a dem haters I'm runnin' 'em down....I'm bunnin' 'em down, How you mean I'm gunnin' 'em down". You don't have to live in the borough to realise, that you'll occasionally need to keep your wits about you, to avoid running into trouble/or trouble finding you!!. Although the American audience, that listen to this album probably won't have a reference on London life to draw from, you can tell from Skinnyman's intricate detail chronicling of inner-city London life, to understand where he's coming from. Just in the same way although we in the U.K. have probably never experienced life in American projects or ghettos, from all the American hip-hop/rap that we listen to in the U.K. yet, we can get an idea, or at the very least...appreciate, where the rapper is coming from.

I'll admit, that when I was first given this CD, I gave it a very brief spin-through (flicking through a few tracks)...and I wasn't overly impressed, I thought the production was seemingly done on a shoe-string budget (which it probably was), Skinnyman's reliance on (in his own words)..a Council estate mind-set, was a little short-sighted, and the many long passages of dialogue, from a little known "Made in Britain", at the end of most tracks, relatively annoying, and the album as a whole, was a prime example of British Hip-Hop's inability to compete on the world stage. But isn't it great when an album that you've dismissed sneaks up on you and catches you unawares...???, this occurred when I'd dropped one of his tracks ("I'll Be Surprised"), onto my iPod playlist, and it kicked in, on the way to work. It was then, that I'd later go back and really give the album a proper listen, and it's then...that the brilliance of the album truly dropped on me.

Negatives??....Is it, an album that is worth paying a hefty import price to bring it over from the U.K.?? possibly not!!...as those unaccustomed with the U.K. dialect, and phrasing, and U.K. centric-slang, might find this a little tough going for the majority of the U.S. Market. it's also a unrelenting bleak look at inner-city young, that could (occasionally) do with the occasional sense of humour (ironically something that U.K. Hip-hop is known for..), and it's worth mentioning that although Skinnyman doesn't necessarily promote gun-violence, he certainly doesn't shy away from suggesting that he'll get anyone that does wrong by him. And although the production is well-handled, it's a little underfed in places....although this is most likely on purpose, to give Skinnyman room for his lyrics. And more annoyingly, a lot of people have expressed irritation at the large amounts of film dialogue placed at the end of most tracks. (no doubt there to emphasise the grittiness of the album, but for some...sadly backfires).

With the negatives out of the way, I'm still very highly recommending this, and it's especially worth tracking down if you can find it for download (or iTunes), or better still find somewhere selling it for a reasonable price. If you're an adventurous listener, or reasonably acquainted with U.K. Hip-hop, then you've gotta give this one a try. Unarguably one of the finest U.K. Hip-hop albums in recent years.

This is pretty tight and different....Definitley would say give this a sample..........A different side of hiphop.

It's a sad day in the US when we have to go overseas to find rappers who rhyme over good beats. Not that anything on this album is mind blowing, but it's a solid effort with decent lyrics and good, soulful beats based around samples that remind you of golden age hiphop.
Even though he's white, he does a convincing job rhyming about the projects. I guess in London they call them council estates. Oh, those cheeky Brits. What will they think of next?