June 23, 2006
Plan B: Who Needs Actions When You Got Words Plan B Tickets
London's potty-mouth gets gritty and real without being boring
7 / 10
At a glance, east London’s Plan B is a gimmick: a hoodie-wearing, perma-scowling, Asbo-in-waiting, with a mouth fouler than Towers Of London’s week-old Y-fronts.
He’s also a rapper who joins himself on acoustic guitar and references Radiohead and Cobain. You can almost hear a marketing manager rubbing his hands with glee.
But go beneath the obvious Marshall Mathers influences and you’ll see that while Plan B creates characters who shout bleak, brutal words about drugs, murder and absent fathers there is a strict moral tone.
He doesn’t glorify nastiness. Instead, ultra-violence is the road to nowhere: the Damilola Taylor inspired ‘Kidz’. Drugs will eventually ruin you: the Rage Against The Machine-driven ‘No More Eatin’’, a rap that rushes with the deadly thrill of an out-of-control car racing down a hill.
All these elements, which should jar, coalesce into a complete urban vision that showcases Plan B’s rare talent. It’s a world of casual violence and worthless, dead-end lives. His world may be grittier, but Plan B’s up there with Alex Turner as a lyricist, crafting simple and darkly witty songs about the reality of life in Britain. It’s the brilliantly foul-mouthed
sound of the summer.
Paul McNamee
9.5
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| Date/Time | Venue | Town/City | Seetickets | Viagogo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 15, 2012 18:00 | High Lodge, Thetford Forest | Suffolk | Tickets not currently available. |
Buy Plan B Tickets |
| Jun 15, 2012 19:30 | High Lodge, Thetford Forest | Suffolk | Tickets not currently available. |
Buy Plan B Tickets |
| Jun 15, 2012 19:30 | Thetford Forest | Thetford | Buy Plan B Tickets |
Buy Plan B Tickets |
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