Roots Manuva is a British rap institution. Since his 1999 debut album, Brand New Second Hand, the South London-born rap chap has slowly graduated to a worldwide concern: his baritone voice has featured on songs by DJ Shadow and cartoon band The Gorillaz. Manuva’s eighth studio project 4everevoluton solidifies his status as an original Hip Hop talent.
Manuva is blessed with a deep and distinctive voice; his timbre is authoritative, but also warming to the ear. As his career has progressed, he’s also come to ally it to something of a signature sound, based around squelching electronic bass-lines and warped, off-kilter synths, sometimes all coated in a dubby, shifting sheen. It’s a blend that Manuva pulls off with aplomb, and 4everevolution might be his most sonically cohesive statement yet. Under someone else’s watch, a track like “Watch Me Dance” might come off as little more than the random ramblings – and occasional breaks into singing – of a rapper over an attempt at a funky groove. But Manuva pulls the parts together to the point where the song sounds like the impressive offshoot of something Shock G and his Digital Underground rap funkateers would cook up.
Crucially, like all the best regional rap, Manuva manages to preach from his home manor, but comment on his surroundings in a way that becomes relatable to anyone listening across the globe. So “Skid Valley” starts as a downcast state-of-the-union address to Britain, with references to the National Health Service and “the birth place of the gentle men.” But Manuva broadens his scope and the song’s relevance when he coins observations like, “I hear you talking ’bout them trade embargoes/ You see them chicken shops? You need to bar those.” It’s a sentiment you’d readily accept coming from Saigon or Boots Riley.
The only downside to 4everevolution? The quite ridiculous title, which – if we’re sticking with Anglophile references – sounds like some gibberish Steve Coogan’s spoof chat-show host Alan Partridge would come up with.
