damn. <\/p>\n
a week after i dropped those words re dagha<\/strong>s fine new album, the divorce, and already i’m loving several other new hip hop albums.<\/p>\n which given that i haven’t had any urge to listen to verbals and loops for a long time means that either there must be something in the water @ ireallylovemusic<\/u> hq, or, there is an ongoing subtle shift in hip hop in 2008.<\/p>\n todays head nodding love is flowing in the direction of son records<\/u> latest full length by dpf<\/strong> (aka joe viggers) who has managed to make a solid set of well produced, easy flowing joints that easily demand several spins to pick up on the old school mc’ing skills, and warm humour.<\/p>\n the clean simple open sounding, but hook filled productions, are held down by either mr laws<\/strong>, or tommy temper,<\/strong> and are matched nicely against joes precise lyrical flow, with little in the way of obvious uk hip hop cliches.<\/p>\n several of the productions head for ska’d up heavy dubby basslines, maintaining a minimal in sonic fuss and detail, making it natural for the listener to focus on the non violent bravado, girl-centric, self deprecation vocal style that has definite shades of one missing in action hip hop anti-hero, eminem<\/strong>, albeit with a east of england slant.<\/p>\n of course the lack of record label budget, east anglia location, (ie this guy is no london hipster scene shaker\/maker), all means that the album has a slim chance of getting its just rewards. <\/p>\n however, it currently looks like hip hop connection<\/u> have picked up on this fine album, and so the people behind this could be in with a money shot.<\/p>\n too many quotable quotes are scattered across the 15 tracks (a rare welcome treat!) make it pointless to zoom in on any one stanza in particular, so all i gotta say is, joe may not have one of those faces that goes places, but he sure has made an excellent album that a lot of people are going to be listening closely to for many a month.<\/p>\n and quite right too.<\/p>\n