Jendor - Grandmaster Review

I'm a massive Jendor fan, but I didn't know what to expect with this CD. I was pleasantly surprised.



The strong start partly provides the answer. Crayzee Banditt produces the majority of the opening songs and his almost epic, wide and expansive sound allows more than enough room for Jen to shine. Pose On Da Phone proves the point and, with strong follow-ups Architect and Get That Dough, the momentum is imposed from the start.

The Rude Kid-produced Sunshine marks a change. The content is street, but the almost uplifting beat conjures a mood that reaches its apex in the corny but infectious You're A Star. Diamonds is the now near-obligatory electro effort and, even without the amusing opening ('call her, call her... oi, man's tryna talk to you, come 'ere man'), Banditt's beat is full and rich. Such beats offset both of Insomniax's dull and forgettable productions on Desert Storm and None Of Their Guys and, with the latter being a freestyle comprising all of Jendor's biggest bars that's crying out for a hype grime or dubstep beat.

Along with Pose On Da Phone, Damn and Scarface are highlights along with Cricket Bat. Despite being well-played on radio over a year ago, it's been slept-on with time and, here, Skepta's beat is refreshing in relation to some of the more hip-hop influenced beats.

Jendor simply shines on the mic throughout and, even though more out-and-out grime beats would have been nice, he has the temperament to lace hip hop well. For a South London MC, perhaps it would be naive not to expect it. Nevertheless, this is a fair effort. In grime terms, if Jen isn't a grandmaster then he can't be far off.

"I'm The Best Street Fighter Since Ken"

Big Rem passed through Logan's show last night, but I was nearly distracted by the rambunctious 'Street Fighter 4' talk. Hadoukens and all sorts. I feel shamefully out of the loop, so I've just consoled myself with the fact that if the game isn't a cartridge, which you sometimes have to blow air into to make it work, then it isn't real Street Fighter.

You're lucky that there was no 'SNES Live' or what not back in the day because I would have whacked you up with Blanka still.

Big Rem could well have been out of the loop as well, given the pronounced silence on, for instance, Zangief actually having some damaging moves now, and Rem blustered in demanding Rude Kid and Nocturnal beats. Silencer's too, which wasn't so much Street Fighter as more Killer Instinct.

Download the set here. I missed some beats, but I couldn't be arsed to listen back so any help would be appreciated.

TRACKLIST

RUDE KID // ??????
DAVINCHE // WHAT IS MINE
NOCTURNAL // DON'T PHONE ME
SILENCER // WIZARD??
DOT ROTTEN // TORPEDO
MANIAC // HEADSHOT
RUDE KID // ??????
PLASTICIAN // CHA
SILENCER // KILLER INSTINCT
RAPID // LICENSE
WILEY // CLUB 5
DOK // PHONE BOOTH
DAVINCHE // BRASSTOOTH
SILENCER // WORLD WAR 4
NOCTURNAL // ??????
WILEY // WREATH
NOCTURNAL // VET
DARQ E FREAKER // NEXT HYPE


There was new music from Skepta, and Sticks and Stones should feature on 'Microphone Champion', as well as on a double a-side release with Sunglasses At Night.

Skepta - Sticks and Stones (Radio Rip)


There was also new music from Trim, and his anticipated Soulfood Volume 4 is released on 2 March. In terms of content, 'Trousers' seems to be a scraping of the barrel but I still expect big things from the CD.

Trim - Da Phone Call (Radio Rip)


Trim - Trousers? (Radio Rip)


And some Scorcher to finish.

Scorcher - Pay Per View (Radio Rip)

"From Lamppost To Lamppost We Run The Roads"

Kano sprinted back to the scene this year while copies of London Town were hurled at him from behind. His newly-acquired sunglasses dearly dangled from one ear, trying to save themselves from a trampling by the chasing, marauding masses who expected better after a promising debut. Efforts at a mellower sound for these ungrateful gits fell flatter than a Lenny Henry gig, and the divorce from 679 Recordings followed.

Credit where it's due, and at least Kano is still going, unlike his former label who've made a few changes. He's even restored some credibility with the release of 140 Grime Street, which was a good CD that couldn't even be dragged down by the inclusion of Soldier. It's no coincidence that the big names uniting on the album resulted in its best three tracks. In this context, Soldier didn't matter.

Kano has given a lot to the scene this year. His return has proved a catalyst for grime's biggest names to stop slyly looking at each other's myspaces and actually work together. Wiley, Skepta and Chipmunk enjoyed a trip to Radio 1's Big Weekend in Maidstone and, by jumping out of the woodwork and delivering the P's & Q's bars, the Garden of England bloomed into life. Kano officially marked his return.


The Provincial Pleasures of Maidstone High Street

However, it was surpassed by the concert at the 02 Arena, and 'The Greatest Grime Show On Earth' exorcised the demons of the place once being the Millenium Dome and just a big waste of money. The general unity is reflected currently; Wiley and Ghetts proudly place one another in their Myspace top friends, a sure sign of affinity, and one that quashes the two's temper-tantrums about vocalling Rude Kid's The Best earlier this year, not to mention bigger battles in the more distant past.

Kano's return has also made Skepta and Ghetts peculiarly pally, and the two both featured on Logan Sama's 140 Grime Street show, one of my favourite sets this year. Skeppy's allegations of Ghetts sending for him 'every two minutes' were replaced by interchanges of 'buss one' and 'god forgive me', a lovely moment as well as proof that Skepta must have listened to the CD before he threw it in the bin. He's recently shown signs of normality, relapsing into a few old words for Ghetto on Westwood, but there's still the impression that progress has been made.

'Politics', and the scene's best talent not combining often enough, has been to grime's detriment in recent times. Maybe things are changing.