After years of culturally biased sniggering and the occasional one-hit wonder (
Neneh Cherry
's
"Buffalo Stance,"
for example), the development of grime -- with the attendant rise of
the Streets
,
Dizzee Rascal
, and
Ms. Dynamite
to a certain level of
alternative rap
stardom -- has finally established U.K.
hip-hop
as its own valid scene. Strong evidence for how seriously Americans have finally started to take British
is on the first album by Chicago-based producer
Chester Copperpot
.
Chapter 7: Verses 3, 2 & 1
began as a collaboration with the British MC
Braintax
, but expanded to include guest appearances by a number of other British and American rappers; the fact that the British MCs and the U.K.-style minimalist beats are so matter of factly included in the mix is not only an acknowledgement of grime's artistic relevance, but it also makes the album one of the strongest
underground hip-hop
releases of 2005.
and
Kashmere
's heavily accented raps sound natural next to the more familiar flow of an American rapper like
Profound
Copperpot
's settings feature inventive samples and rhythms fluid and tricky enough to make the songs interesting even without the guest stars, most notably on tracks like
"Take'n'Over,"
which features
Edo G
over a groove built on the canny use of what sounds like a kitschy slice of '60s
easy listening
, transforming what could have been a cheap musical joke into an effective hook. Although
is unlikely to reach the megastardom levels of fellow Chicagoan
Kanye West
proves that he's a smart and engaging producer with talent to burn. ~ Stewart Mason