Review Kano
Home Sweet Home

1. Year: 2005
2. Style: HIP-HOP
3. Rating:

Kano is the latest face on the UK grime scene, the dark and inventive twist on hip-hop that came out of the garage scene that has been oozing out of the London’s East End in several mutilated forms in the last couple of years. Kane Robinson consequently has quite a responsibility resting on his 19-year-old shoulders. As Kano, the former member of East Ham, London's N.A.S.T.Y. crew is the latest MC charged with taking grime from the underground to the mainstream. Home Sweet Home is his debut and establishes him not only as a master of the fast and fluid flow, but an insightful, frequently humorous - if somewhat socio-politically naive - lyricist. It's the sound of the streets, quite literally. Each of its 16 tracks reflects the organic, chaotic multi-cultural mix that is life in the London's East End in 2005 and the musical promiscuity that necessarily follows. As the title suggests, this is Kano's manor – and he's providing a guided tour.

From Camden Town's ex-footballer (had trials for Chelsea and Norwich City), Kano is already hanging out in a multicultural epicenter where the streets echo to a whole gamut of sounds, so he's not going to make a full on grime record unless he's deaf, lazy or both. So the single, Typical Me is a great slice of contemporary UK culture, scored with the 21st century dark heart of the UK's concrete jungle, and spliced with guitars - it's a walk though the center of the city, soaking up all the different music pumping out of the windows, and all the more powerful for it. Boys Love Girls is the breakout track that took him from his N.A.S.T.Y. crew roots to the edge of the mainstream. It oozes ghetto experimentalism and hip-hop confidence. Mike Skinner has provided the beats for Nite, Nite. Track after track skip along with beats that tread a confident line between hip-hop, urban scenarios and grime. Kano is not merely cruising in on the grime tip – his debut is varied and multifaceted, from the pulsating bass of Mic Check, to the mid-nineties hip-hop/drum'n'bass hybrid of Reload It this is an album soaked in cutting edge sounds. He even does a neat line in introspection – a rare emotion in hip-hop – on Sometimes, in which he questions his own ability with an ironically brilliant rap.

For the majority of people life really is a rat race, running at full sprint just to keep up with the rest. Others just seem to be gifted, like 19-year-old Kano. He could've been a footballer, or he could've gone off and tried his hand in the academic world but he turned that down. Music fans should thank their lucky stars he decided to follow his love of music. Far from all of perfectly pristine debut album Home Sweet Home is breathtaking experimental. Kano obviously point blank refuses to go near a studio unless the results are anything less than sparkling. It is a great release from a great new talent. Kano has the words and the beats to deliver. Believe the hype surrounding this young man – he more than lives up to it.