25.10.07

More Homegrown Hip Hop. L.Man & Skinnyman




L.Man - another South London (Norwood?) bwoy making kick ass music alongside dubsteppers Loefah, Mala, Coki - performs at Cargo tonight, with homegrown hip hop leg-end Skinnyman.

Both are kindred rappers - L.Man's one of the most talented lyricists/poets I've heard in the last 12 months. I like the fact that he says he's not grime or rap or hip hop, but a storyteller. His stories are compelling in that lo-fi, world we don't know, reportage stylee, and he talks about feelings and emotions. Big up.

There's a lesson for L.Man here, and hopefully Skinnyman's done his duty and kept LMan on the straight and narrow. Skinnyman was the homegrown rapper who was on the verge of big tings, tiiiime ago. He kicked Eminem's ass in a freestyle at Subterranea in the late 1990s, before Eminem was famous. Skinnyman was signed to Gilles Peterson's Talkin Loud (Masters At Work, Reprazent, Urban Species, Galliano, Incognito), and would have been primed to crossover as Masters At Work and Reprazent did. Except Skinnyman allegedly got busted for shotting green, and lots of it.

So he was banged up, and the boat passed. It still doesn't detract from the fact that Skinnyman is a fucking fantastic rapper, with compelling real talk, sharp observation, reportage and reps the voice of the unheard - council estate Britain. Coucil Estate Of Mind is a stone cold UK hip hop classic. But Skinnyman's definitely a case of unfulfilled potential.

Hopefully L.Man won't fall into the same trap. Both perform tonight at Cargo. Skinnyman's Council Estate Of Mind launch party at Cargo in 2005, was one of the heaviest hip hop gigs I've seen ever. I've got the lurgy but I'm tempted, B.I.G. T.I.M.E.