run the road vol. 1 – various artists (2005)

Brits, en générale, don’t tend to construct as many lyrical layers in their bars as The Americans. Run The Road is a fantastic exhibition of how that doesn’t have to matter: lines like “I’m famous like Lenny Henry” take on a self-aware directness when surrounded by grime production and massive beats. The compilation was siphoned when grime was at its vibrant, collective, blunt peak. It features every element of hip-hop, shattered, pieced back together, bound with DIY workmanship. Through their grinding composure, the setting is wholly undisguised—distinctly British struggles that obliterate stereotypes and limitation. British hip-hop will never be better.

29/30

A favourite: ‘Cockback’