Bass-player and producer extraordinaire Chris (CC) Constantinou is on a good thing with Rude GRL, producing some street-smart beats under social commentary on several releases, including “Guns of Brixton” which is as current now as it was in 1979 when The Clash said it all on their “London Calling” set (which I admit I didn’t know about until the “Dub Be Good To Me” sample by Beats International when I was DJing back in 1990). With previous releases “The Way It Is (Survival of the Sickest)”, “Bruce Banner”, and “Brand New Cadillac”, ordinarily it would be something that I would turn off, but CC has produced some fine tracks over some catchy and well-known loops, all of which had me nodding along happily.
CC’s pedigree reads more like a who’s-who of 1980s music, having played with and in Adam & the Ants, Lou Reed, and The Damned’s Rat Scabies. But the personnel on this record isn’t far off the A-list either, with Jenna “Rude GRL” Dickens featuring in Basement Jaxx recordings and the world’s first WOC burlesque star Bunni Moretto helping the collab earn Best Hip Hop track at this year‘s PMA Mark awards.
So when I was linked up with their new EP “Like Wow” I had to check it out. It was the “radio friendly” version that piqued my interest and, to be honest, not many radio stations would be picking up the unedited version without a language warning! “Like Wow” opens with some serious beats, guitar loops, and anger aplenty! High volume required: f*ck the neighbours! The press suggests the song is a two-fingered salute to intolerance, prejudice, and hate, but I seriously think they miscounted the fingers!
The EP contains two more tracks: Over Kill, and Let Go, and two more mixes of the single, including an instrumental version and the aforementioned radio-friendly version. Over Kill is more guitar-looped beats with an anti-police attitude akin to NWA’s in 1988, while Let Go is more melodic and, for mine, would work better than the lead-track with its reliance on beats, a catchy sample-loop, and machine-gun paced rap.
Rude GRL and CC “Like Wow!” If it doesn’t move you, you’re not human!
(see also Friday’s news article)