Planet Notion - Hip Hop

Reain AKA Wha’s His Face is renowned as one of London’s finest battle MCs. Being a stranger to the scene, Planet Notion attempted to look it up on wikipedia. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find that much information on the whole shebang, but we presume it’s when two MC’s go head to head in an attempt to out-rhyme each other or something. Kind of like when intellectuals try to outdo other intellectuals with their knowledge of slow-growing plants native to the south-westerly region of Withernsea. Anyway, Reain demonstrates his MCing skills from the get-go on debut album The Metaphorcast - diving in and grabbing the listener’s attention like a rabid pit-bull to a dangling schlong. The intro witnesses the hip hop artist freestyling about battles on the streets and rather than being an egotistical “I’m the fucking greatest, bow down and kiss my arse until your lips bleed” lament, it represents Reain’s passion for battle MCing and the respect he has for his peers. It’s refreshing in the hip hop scene that a guy can come along and MC about something other than shooting some home-boy in a Lambeth COOP because he flogged you an eighth of Oregano or a gram of Bicarbonate of Soda. And here’s the thing: The Metaphorcast is clearly a bit of a change for Reain. One would assume that going from the ad-lib MCing of battle and being thrust into carrying across an eleven-tracker alone, is a pretty heavy load to carry. But, in fairness, Reain carries it across mighty well. The beats are head-shaking, shoulder-shuffling gold and even the Hip Hop haters are likely to be drawn in by tracks like ‘Carnival’, a fun and frolicking breaks-tinged ode to the Notting Hill Carnival or, um, something along those lines. Other tracks, like Beauty, represent the album’s sublime production skills, with a fantastic lyrical account of what Reain finds beautiful. Soppy? Sure. But mighty emotional and a track the knife-wielding MC and Hip Hop wannabes should take note of. So there we have it. The Metaphorcast may be a wee bit patchy in parts, but overall it’s a mighty fine debut.