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With his fourth album, Rodney Smith continues the expansion of his aural horizons. Where Awfully Deep was just that - and featured an intense bout of soul searching bordering on the macabre - Slime & Reason takes in a broader spectrum of emotions, the rapper by turns funny, touching, insightful and thoughtful.
Mind you, it doesn't sound like a new record, and that's not a criticism - merely an observation that the Roots Manuva sound, as it is now, lives and breathes in an analogue state that brings freshness and a little vulnerability. It's Me Oh Lord, for instance, is a deep song that takes place over an older synthesizer sound, Manuva in confessional mode as he looks to the skies, at times crying out while elsewhere murmuring almost inaudibly.
On the other side of the fence sits Buff Nuff, a Toddla T production and a thinly veiled ode to the female form. Funny and engaging, it's an account of Manuva locking on to a girl with his radar and refusing to let go.
Also making a contribution to production is Metronomy, whose plangent brass accompaniment to Let The Spirit is unexpectedly touching, and conjures the image of Manuva arriving in the bandstand when everyone's gone home. It's possibly his most touching moment to date, and catchy with it - the very antithesis of Witness (One Hope), but every bit as effective.
The enjoyment doesn't stop there, as the overall textures are heavily influenced by a passion of Smith's, well before he got in to hip hop - the sound of Channel One and Studio One. As a result of this focus the bass lines are big, often monstrously deep - and sound great turned up loud on a stereo.
The rapper's manner, too, is more in keeping with their aesthetic, taking the record more towards the Caribbean but not forgetting the vignettes of Englishness we've come to know and love from this source.
This being Roots Manuva there's a lyrical gem in pretty much each song - and this being Roots Manuva, a lot of them are intensely personal observations. Most tellingly in It's Me Oh Lord, he states that "you know my trade mark, my trade start - first and foremost we're dealing with the heart". And that's where the principle appeal of this record lies - within its varied musical styles, a personal drama continues to play out - one the listener can easily relate to.
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