Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 20/06/05
Label: 679 Recordings

Who said grime doesn't pay? Very likely, the A&R men who convinced their respective label bosses to invest in Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Roll Deep. Garage may have long since gone overground, but its heavier, dirtier off-shoot is hardly flooding day-time radio airwaves and said artists have yet to grab this nation by the short and curlies and propel it toward the nearest cash register. Kane Robinson consequently has quite a responsibility resting on his 19-year-old shoulders. As Kano, the former member of East Ham, London's N.A.S.T.Y. crew is the latest MC charged with taking grime from the underground to the mainstream.

"Home Sweet Home" is his debut and establishes him not only as a master of the fast and fluid flow, but an insightful, frequently humorous - if somewhat socio- politically naïve - lyricist. It's the sound of the streets, quite literally. Each of its 15 tracks reflects the organic, chaotic multi-cultural mix that is life in the capital's East End in 2005 and the musical promiscuity that necessarily follows. As the title suggests, this is Kano's manor - and he's providing a guided tour.

His sonic palette is impressively varied: "Ghetto Kid" affects Wu-Tang Clan's widescreen, orchestral melodrama; the mighty "Reload It", with its elastic bass lines and clattering beats is boomtastic and ruff, clearly influenced by Kano's love of Jamaican dancehall; the R&B/hip hop of "Brown Eyes" recalls Kanye West; and "How We Livin'' - which warns against the casualness of violent conflict - sees frantic diwaali rhythms hijacked by garage, then slowed to a lazy canter.

Not every tone on Kano's palette is perfectly mixed, however. "Remember Me" is an ill-advised marriage of samba and hip hop while "Typical Me" - which welds hideously banal, nu-metal guitar riffs to Kano's bouncy flow - is the album's low point. Still, his broad agenda is to be applauded. He spits his verses in "Signs In Life" so furiously fast he barely has time to catch his breath, but slows down to make the message of the chorus clear - "hold up your heads, my brothers; be conscious, my sisters." There's something rather less crucial on Kano's mind in "Nobody Don't Dance No More", though. Over a daringly minimal, drum 'n' bass pattern, he declares, "I just want to see some people move to my new tunes."

Kano recognises his position on "Ps & Qs". "I ain't even got punchlines, I got kick lines; I ain't commercial, but I got hit lines," he claims. He's right about his punch, no question. As to profit potential, it's simply too soon to tell.

    by Sharon O'Connell