You know the scenario. You buy an album, knowing full well that it's going to be nice. You listen to it nod your head to most of what can be heard. you put your favourite joints on your Ipod, maybe adding them to a playlist or 2. Then over a (varying) period of time, said album melts into background. Then one day ut of the blue, during a lazy weekday off of work, you find yourself scanning rack after rack of albums looking for something to listen to while you & a bredrin play some ISS Pro with the album of choice as an accompanying soundscape. You stumble across that same album you forgot about all those months ago & give it an airing. As each song comes & passes you wonder how in the hell you let it pass you by in the 1st place. While listening to The IRS debut, The World Is Theirs a few days ago. This exact thought sprung to mind. From the opening orchestral strings sampled (then flipped nicely for the verses) of the opening/title track, I realise that i'd missed a trick big time. Being 5 MC's deep (one of which doubles as producer) means that their is no lack of diversity of vocal delivery from one song to the next. Add to that the fact that this album is strictly real talk. Lyically the album plays out like a day/week/month/year of the trials & tribulations of London life, with all the ups & downs that go with it. Producer ED Strong (geddit) is probably the closest thing the UK has to Yogi (circa Da Dirty 30) only Ed is much better. The core ingredient of great Boom Bap Hip Hop is constant throughout the whole project. Strong snares, ill looped/chopped samples & rich kicks abound as many a neck snapping landscape passes by. Example, the superbly ironic (& my personal fav) Big Day In. A lazy day at home perfectly spun over a great piece of guitar inspired Jazz Hop. Or the moody piano & horns of Pretty Polly, a tale of the woes of being a promiscuous female. I can't believe I slept on such an accomplished album for so long. A lean towards a lighthearted delivery it may be, but it's delivered superbly & don't think for 1 minute that there isn't something to think about either. Ed tentatively says that there may be a mixtape in the offing by the end of the year with the 2nd album in the 1st quarter of '09. I won't be sleeping on these guys again.p e a c e
