Weekly > Reviews
Jack Flash - The Union Jack Album
I’m really pleased that this album is now getting a full release on CD, having been released via digital channels earlier in the year, it sold well and got some great reviews, now it seems it’s moving up to the next level of exposure.
UK hip-hop has had its ups and downs but for me it seems to be going through something of a purple patch at the moment with some superb albums already released this year. Very few though have been from near me, so for a guy from West Yorkshire to have produced this gives it extra kudos, he is from Huddersfield but I won’t hold that against him as a Leeds fan myself!
Jack Flash is the lyrical genius behind the album, but a great deal of credit also has to be given to Apa-Tight who is the production wizard behind the tracks. He lays down some superb beats to compliment the instrumentation that Jack fits with the vocals, he has worked with the likes of Jehst and Sir Smurf Lil before, so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.
Lyrically the three stand out tracks for me are Hip Hop which takes a massive bite out of the hand that feeds it as he launches into a tirade against the music industry and the way “the music industry pimps hundreds of people”. The Program, which takes a swipe at his peers in the hip-hop scene who he describes as “half assed rappers” and finally the brilliant Sleepy Little Town which is about his hometown Huddersfield. The track also features Jhest, Asaviour and Apa-Tight.
- Jack Flash
- The Union Jack Album (2008)
- Category: Album
- Label: Klinik Records
- Reviewed by: Kev
- Published on: 17 Nov 2008
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
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Add to favouritesMusically things are spot on pretty much all the way through, if I was picking highlights though I would have to go for Pledge Your Allegiance which has some fine scratching and female vocals to perk it up. I love Refuge with the Spanish guitar, it has a real soulful feel to the track as does Intoxicating. Come On Down is the brilliant closing track which I’ve had in my head for days and in a similar vein Ground Wurq Anthem is a real head-nodder as well.
The one weaker track for me is Everything which the lyrics make light of the sample used in the track, but for me it’s a little bit of a crass use of a classic that doesn’t have the subtlety of the rest of the album. That is a fairly minor negative in the scheme of 15 tracks though.
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