Well He's 5'1", He's Tons Of Fun... (Star In The Hood - Tinchy Stryder)

Member Name: XICripZ

Product:	Star In The Hood - Tinchy Stryder
Date:	15/08/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of decent tunes

Disadvantages: Generally weak

The London Grime artist Tinchy Stryder made his debut in 2007 when he brought "Star In The Hood" as his debut album and managed to break through into the game with a range of tunes which brought this London sound together with a Pop style (something which would become much more apparent in his second offering for 2009.

1. "Star In The Hood" (Intro)

2. "Perfect Timing"

After having album begin to some rather dark production as he moves his way on into the game with a cold tune which has him explaining why he fits the description he has given as the title for the album and the introductorily track. It features some pretty weak beats and rhymes which seem decent to break him in, but I can't really say that they did much for me to actually impress and persist through this, lighter tune.

**Two Stars**

3. "Breakaway"

Here he gets into what was one of his biggest singles and so it seems to really stand out here as it dropped as a big street tune to pop off and one which allowed him to break his way into the system and have some sort of say upon how things go for him. It has him doing the typical thing of rapping about his apparent struggle and how he wishes to escape this by doing what he his by getting into the music industry in a very clichéd manner.

**Two Stars**

4. "Follow"

Although not a single, this one was a tune on the album to really make big noises as it popped off and found that he was able to take on some production which takes on some of the weak Garage elements whilst keeping it to the much darker style as he rhymes about how he has got to the stage where people are attempting to take on what he has done to advance themselves. It is a clear improvement, but still nothing special.

**Three Stars**

5. "Working For Days"

On this one he does a track which doesn't seem to make any sort of effort to make any sort of progression from the artist as he does one where he does a rather simplistic track about how hard he has to try in order to do what he needs to get out there. He makes out that he's coming with revolutionary material here and it sounds laughable here so it didn't really go down well for me at all.

**One Star**

6. "Hands Of Time"

On this one you get a clear change as he tries out something completely different here as he jumps on a Reggae-styled Dub set for this one. The composition doesn't really much sense, seeing that he is of Ghanaian, rather than Caribbean descent, I didn't think that this aspect of the music really had any point being here at all. Not only does the rack make no sense, but he doesn't really go anywhere with the track either.

**One Star**

7. "Catch 'Em"

With this one he get down to some much more straight-forward Grime material as he jumps on top of some grungy beats here and gets down to a harder tune where he performs in what is essentially a UK version of a Gangsta Rap track. As it seems to be a lot more conventional, it is much easier to get into, but I felt that it was going well until the hook came in and it finds him singing to a terrible effect.

**Two Stars**

8. "Something About Your Smile"

This was probably the biggest track to pop off the album and a single which was bound to do big things as he performs on where he links up with some fresh female R&B talent to come out with a fresh tune which has him appealing to those who preferred the early days of Grime where 2-Step Garage was a staple part of what they pushed things along in the music to dramatically improve the quality in the record with a single tune.

**Four Stars**

9. "Wonder"

Backed by a spacey, electronic composition, this one has him taking things to a new place as you see tha in this one he moves things on by rapping out a story for the listeners. It shows that his skills aren't quite where they need to be at this stage as he doesn't really stick to it for any real stretch of time and so it doesn't really go down that well and it loses the momentum which could have been built had this been another big tune after what had jus come before it.

**One Star**

10. "Dance 4 Now"

He decides that in this one he wants to take things towards the clubs for a big change. It isn't a n expected track in this setting as you find that with this one he is backed by some House material. It isn't what I tend to go for in club material and it really didn't seem to fit in with expectations in any way (with him able to have gone towards Bassline or more Garage to come up with the goods) for something that sounds like Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam".

**One Star**

11. "Stereotypes"

On this one the music is seen to move in a different direction as he gets into one where he goes into detail about just how hard it is for someone such as himself to fight against the typical stereotypes that plagued their lives (especially for ignorant interviewers when talking to Grime artists such as himself). It was much better than I expected it to be, and the thought-provoking rhymes did actually do something for once.

**Three Stars**

12. "Not Like Me"

On this one he jumps on to more of the freaky 2-Step garage material to a strong effect as he takes people bak to the 2003-2004 years, in which Grime was made into a fully-fledged sub-genre of its own to come as a splinter from the Garage world when combined with the UK Hip Hop scene. It is a fly tune and the high tempo of it brings about more energy in his music to get you going once more here.

**Four Stars**

13. "Rely On Me"

The album ends on a cold track to bring you back to the sort of place where things were at as the album got underway as it finds Tinchy getting down to one where he moves to the darer side of things. The Breakbeats were an odd inclusion ere, as the content of the rhymes contrasts from the energy of the beats, but I felt that it mad it much harder to complain about as a result, although the rhymes aren't that suitable.

**Three Stars**

This album just as I expected it as, based upon the singles and other popular tunes (such as "Breakaway", "Follow" and "Something About Your Smile") I knew where things were bound to go here. The rhymes are decent, but not inviting enough to really be bothered about and when the production is only decent half the time, it wasn't really that good an album from him.

Summary: Tinchy Stryder