Bill Shakes takes us to back to '96 with "Don't be a Menace to Blackburn while drinking White Lightning on a Council Estate". It's a chill track, with a minimal, casual beat that effortlessly highlights Shakes' northern flow. This is working class English rap at it's finest. England, yes. London, no. There's a whole world beyond that capital, and Shakes' Blackburn, gray as it may be, is home, and the proud centerpiece of much of his music.
Eh? is an end-of-rave, molly-comedown-flavored ode to post-industrial, multicultural Blackburn. I'm partial to the south Asian-inflected track "Yeah Yeah", the Slick Rick from across the pond number "Once Upon a Time in Blackburn", and "Tugay Kerimoglu", which could have easily come out of a Big Dada sampler. The whole Eh? album is unquestionably gold.
I was surprised to not see much fanfare about Shakes, but I aim to change that by repeatedly linking to his albums. Give him a listen!
