baby j presents .. f.t.p
with the opening declaring that f.t.p stands for 'fuck the police' its obvious that this midlander is representing a heavy side to uk hip hop. coming up through the ranks over the years he came to the fore last year with his excellent production on skinnymans album so its only right that he is let loose over a whole album. naturally, an album like this is all about the guests, and so its with respect that the best laid back groove of soulful piano loops is matched by some fine words by the skinnyman, starting the album with probably the sets highlight might make you wary of the rest of the 17 or so tracks and yes, little reaches the glory of the opening 4 minutes, but there are a few others spread across the listing that begins to pop the listeners eardrums. whether its the obvious radio friendly 'holla', or 'hardly breath', both are direct descendants to the 60's soul-pop of motown, which are going to give the hardcore headbangers some grief, thankfully following these lightweight tracks by such excellence as the horn filled monster, 'mumps' with spitting by old school hero, blade brings the groove back on track.
in fact, there are so many appearances by many of the current scene leaders it can become a little dizzying : ty, klashnekoff, shystie, malik, and even dead prez all turn up from time to time.
ok, quite a few of the tracks may be headed towards a certain mushy moodset, especially the silky smooth 'let it go', or the 70's disco-funk loops of 'shorty', then it becomes obvious that baby j likes to make beats for the loved up folks in the community. luckily, for those that like things a little meaner, there is plenty to keep your heads nodding, none more so than on the albums title track with vocals from yogi. from this production showcase, i suspect that baby j's mobile is going to be hammered for more collaboration requests, which is after all the mans desire.