Between this weird and wonderful patois wonk of ‘Facety 2:11’ featuring a beat from Four Tet and the B-side, ‘Like A Drum’, featuring production by Machinedrum, our Rodney Smith could be at the start of a rejuvenation period.
Rodney Smith is arguably the greatest rapper ever to emerge from British shores. Over five albums of sonic invention, which, like all great hip-hop records, ran the gamut between funky fun and sharp-eyed lyrical incision, he’s carved out space for rappers in the UK, and become one the iconic voices in hip-hop from anywhere.
Smith describes the tune as ‘a wee spring warmer in voodoo coptic dialect shape shifting: the remit the same as ever in awakening one’s inner, modern-day Sun Ra, ODB and Kate Bush on an overdrive of “doing because we can’t help ourselves…””
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The single is out on 12” via Ninja Tune on May 4th.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
