Released 10/10/09, V2 Records


As a huge fan of hip hop I have to admit that i have never been particularly keen on what the UK has to offer. The Americans have just always soared way ahead in a different league, but fortunately there are the odd exceptions such as Roots Manuva and Dizzee Rascal who have proved me otherwise and opened my mind.....a little.

The latest bunch who don’t seem to do anything for me are artists such as Chipmunk, Tinchy Stryder and, less fortunately, Walthamstow rapper Maxwell Ansah aka: Lethal Bizzle.
 
Bizzle’s  grime sound instantly fails to impress, but as this is not entirely his fault (as I am not a fan of this sound anyway), I was prepared to soldier on with an open mind.  Pow! had been a huge hit for Bizzle when it came out and the album title track ‘Go Hard’ certainly seemed to be a track that one could envisage receiving a good reception in the clubs, thanks to the production skills of funky house king Donaeo.

The opening track ‘Money Power Respect Fame’ touches on the same old rapper themes that have been covered a million times and sounds to me like a wannabe attempt of Bizzle  to be an artist from America’s dirty South.  As the album continues Bizzle’s monotone emceeing does nothing to capture the imagination on tracks like ‘Going out Tonight’, which is only saved by the beat quality and the majority of this album does very little to improve my opinion of what the UK has to offer.

However Maxwell Ansah should be very thankful Mark Ronson steps in on ‘Lost My Mind’ to change up the sound of his otherwise drab album, which then does start to improve slightly with the track ‘skulls on my hoodie’ where he finally changes up his lyrical flow and verbal presentation but (in my opinion) tries to reel in the listener with a chorus that again sounds like it’s been produced in the US (totally defeating the point of representing the UK). Standout track (although not that hard) is ‘So Addictive’ – a track that immediately makes my head bop like a real track usually should.  ‘Rock Star’ is also one to look out for – it is not my kind of track but it suits him a lot more as the music matches his rhyming and brings a lot more variation to the tone of his voice.

Despite this flicker of promise that we are exposed to during the middle of Go Hard, a demolished and unimaginative take on House of Pain's 'Jump Around' fails to inspire and, in the end, the penultimate track ‘Who The F**k Are You?’ pretty much sums up my exact thoughts of this album... 

Posted In Album Reviews, Oct 18 2009. Words - Lori