As presaged by single Hypocrite back in the spring, here, finally, is Gregg Green & Pimpernel Jones’ debut long player Protect Your Soul. It’s officially a twelve tracker (although three of the tracks are sub-one-minute interludes and two are remixes), exclusively produced by Jones with Green doing all the vocals (no guest spots or features diluting things on this one!) with the limited 12″ vinyl featuring artwork by Egostrip‘s Dan Lish. Blimey! But does it have all the soul, fire and stylistic breadth of previous efforts from the duo? Let’s get granular with track-by-track analysis!
1. PROTECT YOUR SOUL
Looks like we’re front-loading the title track on this one but if it’s an incendiary piece of rap-psychedelia like this – why the hell not?
2. HYPOCRITE
He might not hail from Brooklyn but Green massively recalls the Black On Both Sides-era of the artist formerly known as Mos Def (in both delivery and lyrics) here with a bit of conscious sing-rapping over a beat that colludes in the process.
3. POLO COLOGNE
This one’s a bit Black On Both Sides-ish too – and I’m certainly not complaining about that – despite the Mr Loverman vibe and the track name sounding like something on offer that they try and flog you when you reach the till in Saver.
4. SOMETHING FOR YA
All woozy ambience and wub-wub-wub loops. Sorry, but this one’s something for nah!
5. SPACELUDES
Sounds like the beatless intro to some sort of banging psych-funk cut off Delights, you’d like to think it’s followed by something huge…
6. PROPAGANDA
…like this for example – splendid use of a sped-up 1969 folk sample for a hook in which the melancholy tune belies the positive message. Highly appropriate given cold lyrical fire from Green who skewers the hypocritical treatment of Afro-Americans over the centuries…
7. RUNNIN’ AMUCK
Jones switches up the production style and it’s more wub-wub-wub reverse loops but with energy this time which turns a bad thing good!
8. YOU’LL SEE
You’ll see. You’ll bloody well see alright and what you’ll see, I think you’ll agree, is that Jones is in his element with these more epic sounding-beats. In this case one that sounds like Deadringers-era RJD2 producing recent-era Black Keys. An impression aided and abetted by a sung hook from Green.
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9. TAKE A CLOSE LOOK
And yet another one that evokes Black On Both Sides, though more the beat and less the bars this time.
10.THIS IS FREEDOM
A nu-jazz powered beat with a distinctly ATCQ-ish vibe mixed with – dare I mention again – Yasiin Bey’s earliest emcee incarnation. Works very nicely.
11.PROTECT YOUR SOUL (STRINGER LIKE A BELL REMIX)
The sixties folk sample gets ditched for orchestral Bond-style incidental music – not bad at all but the original mix is still king!
12.LOVIN’ YOU
Just time for one more (instrumental) interlude inna lounge-hop stylee…
13.PLANET HIP-HOP
…and then it’s a suitably chunky number to book-end the LP – again referencing sixties cinematic influences (giallo, Spaghetti Westerns especially) whilst being reliably boom-bap…
14.PLANET HIP-HOP (UPROCK REMIX)
…or at least it would’ve been the book-end were it not for this remix with its motor-funked-up bassline and occasional dancehall stylings while Green ends as he began – sticking it to the man and his hypocrisies.
COMMENTS: Got soul? Check! Got fire? Hell yes – more than enough to meet the burning crosses of the Klan! Got stylistic breadth? You can’t really ask for a more varied hip-hop LP than this without it straying far beyond the bounds of hip-hop and with only one track the monkey would skip that’s a ‘yes, very much so.’ The soul of hip-hop is in safe hands!
BEST TRACKS:
Protect Your Soul, Propaganda, You’ll See, Planet Hip-Hop, Planet Hip-Hop (Uprock Remix)
(Out now on Cheeba Cheeba Records)