'Stuck Behind The Lookin Glass' - Madhat McGore (album review)

Scotland are coming thick and fast now with Hip Hop releases and if you want to keep more up to date than I can possibly keep you then I'd totally recommend that you get over to the Scotland Stand-Up blog.

Madhat McGore, is as his name might suggest, one of Scotland's gullier rappers - a product of his enviroment maybe - Scotland's not all Lochs, castles and glens you know. Tracks like 'Young Man (Mad Mind)' and 'Nothin's Ever What You Expect' may sound a bit gloomy and depressing, and to some extent they are, but they're still pretty dope although it may spoil a good mood. Scottish history, everyday life and other usual Hip Hop themes make up the content. The use of certain offensive words would ideally, be cut down (particularly the 'c' word).

The beats come from a wide variety of producers including Sky Scraper Beats, Babble-On Beats, ShogunW, Chuck, Madhat, Dave Gunn, UV Beatz and Bill Breaks. 'Take A Look About', produced by UV Beatz is forward thinking and pretty grimey, 'Naughty Eyes' is pure jauntiness, 'Next Of Kin' is the slowest and most Scottish Hip Hop track I've ever heard wheras other tracks are just straight up headnod Hip Hop - the beats are very varied and that's a good thing.

Features come from the tight knit Scottish family - Riddlah, Werd, Wardie Burns, Blasfima Sinna, Nity Gritz, Dave Gunn, Blythe and Holmes all feature on vocals. Music Comes First Records is the label y'all.