Style 43

So kids, the moral of today’s story is never judge a book by its cover. Or in this particular tale, never judge an album by its cover. Don’t let the No Limits style, Photoshop extravaganza put you off. Mr Drastick, aka the Trak Bully, has skills pon da mic. And beats. Lots of lovely beats.

“The Gladiators’ Anthem” is the debut long player from Mr Drastick, after a number of collaborations with the likes of Verb T and Jon Phonics. And with Yungun, TB, Stylah, Iron Braydz and Rein, dropping verses on this album, it’s fair to say the Trak Bully is well respected on the UK circuit.

Let me bring you up to speed on his movements before this though, because the man has been working flat out to get to where he is today. He dropped a mix tape back in 2005, “The Gladiatorial Passion Vol. 1”, which got him noticed by 1Xtra who made the first single, “They Swear”, their single of the week. The full project was also named mix tape of the week on Dev’s 1Xtra show. Following in the footsteps of his heroes, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Lords of the Underground to name but a few, he hit the UK streets to flog his wares and in the process built up sales figures that most indie labels would be jealous of.

So the guy has a first-rate work ethic and that really shows on “The Gladiators’ Anthem”, where his gruff vocal tones gel well with a wide assortment of beats. The album opens with the track “Give It Up”, which uses the same samples as the J-Live/R.A. the Rugged Man track of the same name, and boy is it a good opener. That paves the way for a number of other heavy tracks, including “Paranoid Music” and my own personal favourite, “Stuck”. Plus there are sounds to cater for the soul searching heads amongst you. “She Gotta Find a Love”, “I Don’t Wanna See” and “Broken Man’s Dream” all tackle issues which are rife in the world today. And if that wasn’t enough there are a couple of anthems for the girls too, “All My Ladies Say” and “Baby”, which features UK favourite Yungun, or Essa. I’m not sure what he calls himself nowadays to be honest.

Basically the message here is don’t sleep on Mr Drastick, not that I think you’d get a choice. Rumour has it the man has had rumbles with none other than G-Unit. Let’s hope he taught them how to rap in the process. “The Gladiators’ Anthem” is out on April 28th, so mark the date in your diary and have a listen for yourself.

http://www.myspace.com/mrdrastickmusic

Review by Fyshh