This week's hip-hip CDs reviewed
SPEECH DEBELLE
Speech Therapy
Big Dada
★★★★
Hip-hop rarely has room in its ranks for the vulnerable and sensitive. While many rappers use disadvantage as motivational tools, Speech Debelle’s songs, with their tales of family unhappiness and social unease, don’t come with any message wrapped within their folds. Rather, these honest chronicles are diary entries showing how the south Londoner survived getting from there to here without losing her marbles. Debelle is quite brilliant when it comes to keeping the various strands of her life story rolling along, and she doesn’t flinch when providing details of absent fathers (
Daddy’s Little Girl
) or a stay in a hostel (
Searching
). The breezy, folksy, jazzy beats – her production aides here include Wayne Lotek, Plutonic Lab and Tunng’s Mike Lindsay – provide a natural bounce for Debelle’s words and powerful, intriguing performance. www.speechdebelle.com
Download tracks:
The Key
,
Daddy’s Little Girl
