Style 43

So the third instalment of Life’s solo project is here. “Outside Looking In” brings more views of the well established UK artist to the fore and dishes them out with the familiar rapid fire flow that made him a hit, along with fellow emcee Si-Philli, back in 2000 when “Millennium Metaphors” first dropped.

While this album has definitely moved on since then, in terms of production and substance, Life’s style on the mic doesn’t seem to have varied much over the years. And while die hard fans won’t have a problem with that, the less forgiving hip hop heads out there might want some sort of lyrical evolution to occur. Don’t get me wrong, I like Life, but his stuff doesn’t seem to get me buzzing like it used to. I remember first hearing him and Philli on tracks like “Drop Bombs” and “Cordless Mics at 20 Paces”, and thinking they were the best thing to come out of the UK since London Posse.

As usual Nappa is on hand to provide his standard serving of beats with a distinctly Americanised/Primo-scratched-up-hook flavour. I’m not a massive fan of Nappa and so I’d have liked Life to test out some new waters, at least for part of the album, but I get the feeling he’s stuck in the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset. Nappa is a good producer, it’s just I don’t particularly dig his sound and I think with a fresher approach to production, Life could really shine again.

There are some decent joints on the album. In particular “Soldiers”, which harks back to the early PLC days, “Daddy”, which reflects a more mature tone that runs throughout the album, and “You Know the Name”, a classic “I’m the sickest emcee” anthem. As I said earlier, die hard fans of Life and PLC will love this album and all in all you could do a lot worse at the moment, so definitely check it out. Just don’t expect to be blown away by a new sound.

http://www.myspace.com/lifemc

Review by Fyshh