Production: 4.7/5.0
Overall Score: 4.6/5.0
 |
| How I thought Birmingham was |
I'm not even
gonna lie to you guys - I don't know what the hell is even in Birmingham besides
the universities, Jacob Banks, and a couple houses because people must live
there right? Hmm.
So when I
first heard of RoxXxan the female Birmingham rapper my reaction was a mix of
"huh"s "seriously"s and "lol wut"s, but musically
I don't think I've ever been so pleasantly surprised - RoxXxan... rocks.
Her delivery
ahh her delivery - that's how she
gets you! It's potent, venomous and out-rightly hardcore, which beautifully
harmonises with the fact that - as you'll find out - RoxXxan doesn't give a
f*** in flight. But it's wondrous that she doesn't! Almost magical even, as for
me at least it’s been a while since I heard a rapper that doesn’t give a damn,
is actually talented and still has at least some manner of decorum (yes Azealia,
I'm looking at you). The infusions of bashment/dancehall and grime also add
more dimension to her style, resulting in one that is unique to her, and very
easily memorable.
And it's a
wonder just to hear her spit flows over the well made and great beats on the
tape, which sometimes compliment her harsh flow with a harsh, distorted
electronic synths as in Guerrilla or Power, or create sublime contrasts with
smooth piano driven melodies as in Hazzed
or one of my personal favourites, Real
Talk. You even get a little Neptunes-esque funk with the amazing LNMT, which is really isn't something
you expect, and certainly not something you expect to work well. It all has the
effect of showing off RoxXxan's skeleton key flow, which she manages to
successfully change around depending on the situation within each track.
Lyrically
she's solid, even if she lacks punchy one liners or specifically quotable
lines. On top of that her use of sometimes direct and sometimes subtle humour
helps to really boost the fun factor, as I actually had to hold back laughter
when out of nowhere, in the most English of English accents the chorus to DAGGA said "I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU THE DAGGER, YOU SHALL RECEIVE THE
DAGGER", dagger meaning an intimate interaction with the male um,
part. I also had to have a cheeky giggle at the Birmingham talk "how am ya
- I'm oolraight bloud" in Brum Bars,
as RoxXxan's accent was something I was semi-aware throughout but THAT just
brought it to the light epically.
However I
found that a couple songs, specifically HO3
and Kween Richard, where a bit too
not-give-a-damn-y, which made the concept or the words spoken distract from the
quality of the song. On top of that I wasn't really feeling Power or the DAGGA tune, as though she avoided the awkwardness that usually
accompanies songs where artists try to be all bashmenty, neither was of the
same quality as other songs on the mixtape.
And that's
just about all you need to know about Prepare 4 When I Land blouds. It's an
exciting, varied and fun mixtape filled to the brim with RoxXxan's potent
delivery and highly decent lyrics that make you think if this is the preparation for when she lands, the actual landing will
be a MAUD Ting. Download it
before you even leave this page.
You can listen to Prepare 4 When I Land via the souncloud player here:
And download it via MixtapeMadness here.
Photo Credits:
Original DAGGA Guy "ENGLISH MEN" by VICTOR VIC
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