Bugzy Malone

Bugzy Malone has fast become one of the most acclaimed MCs in grime music. The lyricist is immediately not like any other artist in the genre – aside from his unique storytelling abilities, Malone, real name Aaron Davis, hails from Manchester as opposed to London, the home of grime. However, Malone has risen above the obstacles to reach the peak of his career to date which is landing his highest position on the UK album charts.
Respected by his fans and peers alike, Malone is undoubtedly one of the most-talked-about MCs in the genre and for good reason. The 25-year-old earned much praise for his first freestyle in Charlie Sloth's legendary Fire In The Booth on BBC Radio 1Xtra in 2015 and his second effort in May 2016 also won much acclaim.
Bugzy Malone has fast become one of the most acclaimed MCs in grime music. The lyricist is immediately not like any other artist in the genre – aside from his unique storytelling abilities, Malone, real name Aaron Davis, hails from Manchester as opposed to London, the home of grime. However, Malone has risen above the obstacles to reach the peak of his career to date which is landing his highest position on the UK album charts.
Respected by his fans and peers alike, Malone is undoubtedly one of the most-talked-about MCs in the genre and for good reason. The 25-year-old earned much praise for his first freestyle in Charlie Sloth's legendary Fire In The Booth on BBC Radio 1Xtra in 2015 and his second effort in May 2016 also won much acclaim. - International Business Times

'A coherent and excellently structured record': Bugzy Malone's 'Facing Time'

In 2016, grime is facing a new test of its ability to operate on its own terms. At the start of this decade the genre was flirting with major label crossover that resulted in a few great pop records, but all too often diluted its musical impact or left its stars stuck in contractual or “artist development” limbo. Other urban genres pushed it aside, and it was no longer the only game in town for inner city youth.
By stages, though, it reasserted itself. Around 2012-13, its instrumental side became respected as a serious force within clubland, and the Butterz organisation proved that it was possible to make a success out of grime as rave music. Then, in 2014, original scene leader Skepta galvanised the scene with “That's Not Me”, a track built on grime's unique, peculiar sonics, and in 2015 youngsters like Stormzy and Novelist began to prove that they too could achieve significant success independently and without making creative compromises.

Thankfully, Facing Time is a cracker. Up until now, BM has been best known for a long-running lyrical “war” with first-generation grime rapper and pop-crossover artist Chipmunk – but here he demonstrates that he's about far more than crafted threats and put-downs, with a coherent and excellently structured record. His general tone is somewhere in between grime's hyper ebullience and the more introspective and lyrically intricate voicing and lyrics of traditional UK hip hop. Likewise his voice balances a deep-from-the-diaphragm gangsta menace with a more lilting, musical rapping and even singing. The latter follows the cadences of his Mancunian accent and the ebb and flow of the music, which is narcotically dreamy (“wavey” in the vernacular) as often as it is jagged and rowdy.
Lyrically there is plenty of macho self-affirmation and confrontation, but just as much, there is self-analysis, musing on the stultifying effects of poverty and prison, vivid scene-painting, and even – in a very bold move – what amounts more or less to a love song in album opener “Beauty and the Beast”. This record alone isn't going to transform grime into a genre with the staying power it needs to create a genuine independent mini-industry... but a few more like it, and that might start to look like a reality. - The Arts Desk

Won't copy and paste (link above) - N.M.E