Ignorance Is Bliss - Skepta: Review

Skepta

Is a british Grime rapper who has established himself as one of the most well respected and veteran MCs of this decade. His 2016 album Konichiwa was a huge critical and commercial success and through his association with the A$AP Mob as well as a crossover hit with A$AP Rocky in Praise Da Lord he has also become one of the most well known grime rappers internationally.

Review By Lavender:
I will be the first to admit I was a late comer to Skepta as I am to far too many grime rappers being an American, and as I am trying to remedy with Slowthai. But by the time Konichiwa came around I was more than comfortable with Skepta's back catalog and that album blew me away. Leading up to this record I had heard Skepta drop some great verses on various A$AP Mob tracks as well as drop a decent EP in 2017 I was excited for this release. After hearing it I certainly am not head over heels but it is still a solid outing.

The lead single for this thing was an excellent track that I took to right away Bullet From A Gun. The song has some sharp key blips and a classic rattling grime beat over which Skepta is sharp and bounces between hilarious and thoughtful in his bars. His tight flow and serious demeanor in the second half more than prove his veteran status in the grime game and his consistent talent for sharp lyricism. The second single didn't hit quite as hard with me, Greaze Mode has a rattling high hat heavy trap inspired beat with flows that are much less tight than its predecessor. The hook here is an absolutely awful Travis Scott rip off that sounds like the singer is barely even trying, but even Skepta doesn't blow me away on this track and it is a pretty good representation of some of the albums flaws.

Fortunately there is a number of songs that are much closer to Bullet. No Sleep is an ice cold banger with a super unique beat that Skepta is more than up to the task for. He delivers a series of ruthless bars and a very wordy but still effective hook, something that is a pattern across this record. What Do You Mean? is another great track where J Hus handles a sharp hook that I like quite a bit and Skepta takes over afterwards. The beat is pretty standard and reminds me of a radio freestyle beat but per usual Skepta is good and I enjoy his intoxicating flows and the head bobbing chorus.

Same Old Story is another great highlight with a wordy hook but an effective one that sees Skepta rapping over some whistle sounds mixed into the instrumental but the elements are refreshing and make for yet another good track. Glow In The Dark features a sharp Chris Brown inspired hook and while Skepta is pretty typical by grime standards on the song he of all people certainly does the sound justice. You Wish is another one of the best tracks here and one of the strongest thematic supporters of the fact that Skepta is untouchable in his own realm. He drops bar after bar both defending and actively proving his dominance over the grime game and the sheer talent he has going for him and his energy is fantastically compelling and completely captivating. Finally the closing track Pure Water is a little bit of a by the numbers outro but everything Skepta does here he does it well, even if we've heard him do it already.

Unfortunately not every track was great. Redrum has a lot of attitude going for it but the bars here aren't my favorite and the beat is far from special. The "Slap you like what, slap you like who" refrain on the hook is straight up annoying when it goes over and over again across the entire track and it does not help a song that was already on the fringe of boring territory. Going Through It has a weirdly mixed and mostly intolerable intro that doesn't really accomplish much of anything. Some of the worst lyrics and hardest struggle bars appear on this track and cause some questions to arise. Pairing all this with a drab and uninspired beat for a song that is just plain forgettable.

Some of the worst moments on this entire project come from a handful of Skepta's guests who either get embarrassingly outperformed or completely mishandle hooks. Love Me Not is a love song that actually manages to stay decent through its verses but when the hook comes around I'm not sure what to make of it. The singer sounds so much like XXXTENTACION that is is distracting and I hate the vocal effects layered over the hook every time it comes on. The song has highlights but it certainly isn't one I found myself wanting to return to. Gangsta is an example of some bad features that just seem even worse when compared to a great verse from Skepta. Unfortunately the features make up enough of the track that it is actually just fucking annoying that Skepta gets so little time to deliver more sharp bars on his own track and I'm frustrated by how good I think this track could have been if it was fleshed out.

Finally Animal Instinct opens up with a long and very sharp verse where Skepta emotes very little but says quite a bit, before the track completely crumbles under the weight of one of the worst things I've heard all year. The guest here is an absolute nightmare and handles a brief chorus that is an overhammed and underwritten disaster before barely stumbling through what I guess you could call a verse while not even making an attempt to stay near the beat. Not to mention that there are some ugly and vapid vocal effects carelessly layered over him and this track is effectively ruined by this nightmare of a feature.

Skepta has more than proven he is talented but Ignorance doesn't prove that like Konichiwa did. He is clearly still at the top of his game and many of the worst tracks here even still feature some good work from the man himself, so obviously keep your eyes out for the next time he jumps into the fray, but for all of our sake I'm hoping Skepta can widdle his next project down to the gems and elicit some better performances out of the artists he chooses to let guest star. 6/10

Best Track: Bullet From A Gun

For more grime check out my review of Slowthai's Nothing Great About Britain here.