Stig of the Dump – Piff Rhys Jones
Stig of the Dump is a nice guy. Why? Last Thursday was his birthday and yet he still managed to find the time to send us hip hop heads a free six track mini album the very same day. Heck, he even called it a gift to us. Certified G.
Piff Rhys Jones is a welcomed release from the Team Hate leader. Having been quiet on the rap front for the past twelve months the album serves as an excellent building block for him to showcase what other musical treasures he’s got in store for us. Word on the street is that he’s been working alongside Sonnyjim, Dabbla and Jehst on various different projects to be released sometime in the near future. Exciting stuff.
On first glance the title of the EP might just sway you ever so slightly, that is if your opinion on marijuana related music is the same as mine, however this can easily be ignored because this truly is a solid piece of work. It’s worth noting that unlike previous releases you get to see a completely different side to Stig here which adds an interesting layer of depth to go alongside the rest of the tracks.
Nice 2 Meet Ya is a perfect example of this, amalgamating chilled out mellow instrumentals with introspective word play focussing on himself as the main character in the track. A big highlight throughout is the accompanying beat, providing an incredible foundation for Stig to exercise his lyrical ability upon. I should probably mention that it isn’t just one track where the production goes off, it’s ridiculously consistent throughout the whole piece. This could be down to the fact Stig has chosen to work solely with Text Offenders crew member Esyoube rather than a selection of producers, giving the album a strong, dependable sound from start to finish. Movin Fwd again provides the ground work for Stig to push his contemplative tip further, which comes backed up with a pleasant choice of strings and female harmony samples. The level of realness is definitely something to be praised here, much like The Truth Is, taken from the Cannon Fodder EP, this is a track that really gets the balance right of being open without being too intense.
Other tracks to look out for are All I Want and Makin’ Change, both highly accomplished with two contrasting styles to cut your teeth on. All I Want provides a smooth female hook with melodic piano keys while Makin’ Change goes out as a memorable last track merging cuts with a big, head nodding style.
Out of the entire Stig catalogue Piff Rhys Jones is probably his most diverse work to date, providing a huge range of different styles throughout which cements his status as one of the best MCs in the UK. Lyrically he’s on top form too which definitely makes you think with the amount of work still to come from him you haven’t seen his best yet. What’s even better is this particular release is a free download and judging from its high quality I’d say that was a pretty decent deal. Be quick though as its only 2000 that are free.
Review by @louisebrisbane