Style 43

Man, why do I keep getting overly excited about music just because of what the PR blurb says? Of course it’s going to big it up. That’s the point. Admittedly sometimes they come through, but a lot of the time it’s a let down in someway.

And that’s how I thought this was going to turn out too, but after a somewhat shaky start, CONS?IRACY really came into their own. Nicklez and Dymez each bring their individual styles to the mic and the dynamic between the two of them really works, although there is often a sense that one of them is the stronger emcee.

They boast an impressive record of live shows at various venues from Jazz Café to Hackney Empire and the Mean Fiddler, where they opened for Erick Sermon. With this in mind, it is easy to hear that live energy spill on to their album and they both have the confidence needed to pull off some frenetic wordplay, combined with some thought provoking lyrics.

The second half of the album is definitely the better half. In fact from track seven onwards it goes from strength to strength. Particular tracks to watch out for are “Let Me Be”, “Give Thanks” and “Money”, which uses a nice Nina Simone sample and let’s face it, she’s always welcome. The production does get a bit dodgy at times though. For some reason they have really nice strings on some tracks, and then really obviously synthesised versions on other ones and weirder still, it’s the same producer involved in both tracks.

As a debut album, “Tour of Duty” holds its own and is definitely worth copping. I see BIG things coming out of the CONS?IRACY camp in the future.

Review by Fyshh