M9: Paintbrush (Dark Matter Records, 2008)The first time I heard this track - about an hour ago - I thought, "Jesus, this is a bit good" then played it again. Then again. Then I played the rest of the album and, oh Jesus, that's really good too. I was finding it hard to decide between this and two other tracks (Soldierz and Dark Matter), but decided to go for this as, I feel, the humble paintbrush has seen no love whatsoever from hip hop to date and, frankly, it's time for a change. Anyway, M9 is from Shepherd's Bush and he has clearly spent a lot of time chewing on the end of a pencil waiting for inspiration to strike and not a moment has been wasted as his lyrical skillz - excuse me, near 40-year-old coming through - are quite startling. As are those of Cyrus Malachi and Masikah who also appear here. Nice Wu-ish beats too... *orders another Lady Grey*
He also performs well as a public speaker...
