PackFM - WhatduzFMstand4? (Review: Ben)

It all sounds the same.

OK, so after two quite negative reviews last week, I was determined that this week would be different. If you happen to have seen my review of Cunninlynguists on AlbumSwap (Chief's favourite review ever, I might add) you'll already be aware that I don't really care for rap or hip-hop in general but that I found an exception with that album. Having said that, for some reason I still had the same assumption about this album, that it would not be to my tastes, especially after Matt said it had 'a more mainstream sound'. Somehow this preconception seems to be a recurring theme in my reaction to anything in the rap/hip-hop genre. Most of the time I hate being proved wrong, especially with music, but something about this album made me hope to be drastically wrong and love it.

As with Cunninlynguists, I'd heard snippets of this album coming from the brother's room but never really taken an interest. So, into the content of the album we go. 'The Fuck' is a fantastic opener. It has such a good beat to it and it's lively, something which I tend to find absent from mainstream acts in this genre. Instantly I remembered what it was that I loved so much about Cunninlynguists: the production. I absolutely love the notion of taking the best parts of other songs and sampling them into something totally different and it just always seems to fit so well in this album in particular. 'I Can't Win' is an equally addictive track and I started to find myself really enjoying the tracks on this album at this point. The chorus is brilliant and sums up everything that I love in this genre perfectly.

I found the spray can noises in 'Click Clack & Spray' a little bit annoying but that doesn't detract from what is also a very good song. I don't think this album is as thought provoking lyrically as Cunninlynguists but it still has some real meaning to it, again something I find missing from hip-hop as a whole. 'Lessons' is one of my favourite songs on the album as it has an incredibly good beat and I can actually feel myself nodding along to it. Lyrically it's also a very nice track and I just enjoy listening to it. Whilst not really enjoying casual racism in music (I think it's ridiculous and overused to the point where it doesn't mean anything anymore) I found 'N*gga Pass' really funny and for the first time found myself enjoying an interlude on an album so well played PackFM.

'Stomp' is for me the standout track on the album and sounds like it could be absolutely huge in the mainstream. The production on it is absolutely immense and it's just a brilliant song which I'll definitely be playing over and over again for a long time. Other highlights include 'Free-Esta' again due it's fantastic production and the amazing 'Token Love Song'. I felt that the album tailed off a little towards the end but that didn't really seem to matter when the strength of the rest of the album was such that I couldn't wait to listen again.

I can't really write too much more other than a track by track review as I just feel I'm reiterating points already made in my Cunninlynguists review but this album has once again proved me so badly wrong and apparently I'm actually really into underground rap and hip-hop. I can't really give this album anything other than 5/5 when it's made such an impact that I'm going to seek out more artists from this genre in the near future and I can't wait to hear more from PackFM.