Little Lord Fauntleroy's Reviews (November)

What What y'all its your boy Little Lord Fauntleroy, servicing that ass like Bisto gravy. Anyway I got a crazy amount of reviews to get through this week so we gonna keep them short, sweet and sick. We got alot of UK hip hop so for this week of reviews I've donned a back pack, turned my hood up and am currently standing in the corner pretending I seriously lack any social skills (or is that Dubstep? I forget.)


First up we got the Lowlife MD Joey Brains aka Braintax with his follow up to 2001's Biro Funk. The album's called 'Panorama' for some reason and apparently its political AND controversial. I know i shouldnt expect much when a hip hop record is supposed to be 'political' but i've always though Braintax was above the typical remarkably well informed political rhetoric of most emcees i.e. 'Bush is Bad' and 'Tony Blair is a twat'- insightful. Unfortunately my expectations are not met and he effectively does do just this, complaining alot without really offering any solutions or alternatives- anyway it is just an album not a manifesto so all in all it aint bad, generally just standard UK hip hop. Check 'Run the Yards' and 'Last Tenner' for the highlights. lets say 6.5/10


Continuing on a UK tip we got Foreign Beggars with 'Stray Point Agenda'. Now i ve got alot of time for Orifice and the boys, particularly as i recently found out that DJ Nonames lives behind the pub Ive been going to since I was about 13. Anyway thats completely irrelevant, this album is good but still doesnt really do them justice but compared to the majority of UK hip hop right now its an instant classic. Their live show on the other hand is a completely different matter, Orifice and Metropolis compliment each others styles perfectly and now featuring a full live band the group has really moved up another level in UK hip hop hierachy (Where Roots Manuva is King, Taskforce are the Knights of the Realm and Tommy Evans is a humble leper shovelling dung in the courtyard). Check their show at the Scala on the 14th November. Highlights include Let it Go feat. Wildchild of Lootpack and the Vadim produced Black Hole Prophecies. Gonna give it 8/10 cus of the live show too.


Arrested Devolpment are back! Woooooh! And apparently we all should care. 'Since the Last Time' is their first album for like ten years but i'm finding it hard get remotely moist. The album basically tries to recreate that whole native tongues arfro-centric feel but sounds really dated, oh and racist. They've got an entire song about how a white groupie (they refer to her as the devil) tries to hit on the group's emcee Speech, while at the same time lamenting the state of commercial hip hop. I dont know about you but i think 50 Cent's doing alot more for race relations- he'll bang hoes whether they white or brown. 'Since the Last Time' gets 3/10.


Someone we should give a shit about making a comeback is Hi-Tek whose just released the ingeniously titled 'Hi-teknology 2'. Its got the most ridiculous roster of guests- Ghostface, Nas, Common, Jadakiss, Busta, J Dilla, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Peter Sissons, Kurupt, The Game and your gran all thrown in. The problem is though is that with guests like that the record sets ridiculously high standards for itself and doesn't quite hit the mark. 'March' featuring Busta Rhymes is dope and the track with Ghostface is heavy purely because of the line 'Asshole burning like Tabasco' while referring to a young lady he has a chance encounter with. The biggest dissapointment is 'Music for Life', I really don't understand how I can't love a tune featuring J Dilla, Nas, Common AND Busta but its just really, really average. Anyway its still good so it gets 7/10.

Right thats all I got time for now, I'll leave with Ruffhousing's resident guru Big L's wise words 'If I catch aids, I'm gonna start raping bitches' Word.