'Disc-Overy' - Tinie Tempah (review)

Tinie Tempah – ‘Disc-Overy’. What on earth will a die hard Hip Hop fan like me think? Let’s see. This is a live blog of the CD:

‘Intro’ – big D’n’B style beat, robot vocals – a very imposing way to begin an LP but with lyrics likening himself to a vegetable and an awful lot of swearing for a CD that’s probably been created for the charts it’s difficult to tell where he’s aiming (or where the label are aiming him). In his favour I’ll say that Mr. Tempah sure can flow and ride a beat.

‘Simply Unstoppable’ hits without giving the listener time to draw breath but again, his questionable lyricality is evident early on in his first utterances: “Simple, Honey I’m a fine boy, no pimples”. The beat is harder than most of this sub-par urban pop so it has that in its favour and again, Tinie doesn’t miss a beat with his rapping.

‘Pass Out’ – it is what it is. You know the track – infuriatingly ingratiating production, really wack lyrics (“I’ve got so many clothes I keep some in my aunt’s house”), pointless sung bits and that D’n’B bit. A great pop track, admittedly.

‘Illusion’ – strikingly boring introduction, but wait, crikey, my flippin’ head is nodding and I actually really like what he has to say and the way he says it, well, it’s just so effortless. Oh, the chorus is another fuzzy sung bit and I can’t work out what is being said – that spoilt it a bit. Best track so far, though.

‘Just A Little’ featuring Range (what’s the betting he’s named himself after Range Rover?). Annoying singing (detecting a theme here, although the words on this are discernable) about something about a girl but some fairly eloquent, yet simple multis from Tinie Tempah. Boring song though – skip.

‘Snap’. A pretty good beat, some more wonky head nodding, at least until the vocals kick in. Also, a pretty original concept; it’s a song about photographs, digital ones at that seeing as he stores them on his Micro SD. A bit sappy though.

‘Written In The Stars’ – Eric Turner’s sing song intro gives way to a more basic beat which is preferable to the aforementioned intro which incorporates electric guitars. Seems that Tinie gave up on the lyrics in the second verse though and he even uses made up words to make things scan “leaded astray”.

‘Frisky’. Argh, more annoying singing from somebody. Ooh, the “lalala” bit is catchy – I can see why this was a single. Lyrics – garr, puke. That is all.

‘Miami 2 Ibiza’. TT gets ‘lyrical’ by saying lots of initials and talking dirty before the beat gets to sound something like one might hear in Ibiza. Nothing I want to hear here. Oh, apparently this is produced by Swedish House Mafia if that means anything to you?

‘Obsession’ – self indulgent and a tad boring. Skip.

Oh, I used to really like Kelly Rowland. Let’s see what she brings to ‘Invincible’. Ah, just the same old thing she’s been peddling over the last year. Tinie’s flow on this is a little stilted and staccato (as it was on ‘Obsession’) which I find fairly frustrating – you probably will too. Man! It’s really annoying!

‘Wonderman’ – the super hero track. Good lyrics about becoming famous but goodness, this Ellie Golding lass has an irritating accent – he shoulda left her off. You’d think that from this review that I hate hearing singing alongside rapping but it’s not true – I actually love it, but on this CD it’s done so badly. Ooop, bit of autotune – of course.

‘Let Go’. Won’t even mention the singing of Emilie Sande or Tempah’s once more disjointed delivery or the sloth-paced beat. A bad way for Tempah to finish up, but then again it brings the running time to the obligatory 45 minute mark so that the fans feel like they’ve not been short changed. I’ve stopped listening now and am just thinking how I’ll sum up.

‘Disc-Overy’ (why the ‘disc’ has been separated I don’t know; maybe he’s the only chart rapper to have actually pressed up some physical product?) isn’t a bad album considering its audience probably doesn’t consist of those who like Hip Hop. It contains some perfect radio fodder but doesn’t totally disguise the fact that Tinie Tempah has some skills as an MC. His flow is often spot on although his lyric writing could probably do with a few more years of maturation. It does leave me wondering what sort of album he would have put out if he had complete creative control and the knowledge that he would still get paid. Maybe one day, when he’s fallen from the chart’s grace, he’ll do something for the heads. He’ll still get a fair review then from me.