Plan B - ill Manors Review
Music can make you think, it can change things...if you don’t believe in something, then you’ll fall for anything.
rating: 4.5
...and Plan B, what kind of name is Plan B? How low has your self-esteem got to be that you cant even call yourself Plan A? So went the drug addled rant of a friend at the tail end of one of our numerous-day binges. It was nothing personal, everyone came under his firing line that particular night. Including the floor layout of a Morrisons back home. His neglecting the fact that the B in Plan B stems from his real name aside, said rant couldnt be more misdirected and further from the truth. You see, Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew/Ben Drew/Plan B, has confidence in spades, always has. What has become clear though, as his career unfolds, is that its not just confidence and self-esteem that Plan B has in spades, but ambition too. In the beginning Plan B was grimes storyteller (though he was never grime, more keen on spitting venom over an acoustic than a garage aping beat), then he was the poster boy of chart bothering white boy soul. He went supernova. Its hard to think of a more impressive transition from underground and untouchable into mainstream success with a CD in every home. I dont know about you, but my parents bought a copy of The Defamation of Strickland Banks. So, the boy has ambition, but with the release of ill Manors were back to the root observation of self-esteem and confidence. If its not confidence that leads a young man to take the expectations of millions expecting a follow up to ...Strickland Banks and meet them with one of the angriest and bleakest mainstream albums youll hear this year, then I dont know what is. Plan B is risking everything that his sophomore album got him, and there isnt a hint of doubt about him. Theres a considerable key reason though, as to why Drew may be making this u-turn of sorts so comfortably; purpose. Aside from the fact this coincides as the soundtrack to his directorial debut of the same name, this album has been written, recorded and released with a real intent; fuelled by anger, an awful lot of anger. Its not aimless anger either, its got a direction. Its got a target. In fitting with the film (of which he wrote and directed), Plan B is cast as The Narrator of ill Manors. As with first album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words the focus is on the lower, seedier underbelly of the apparent underclass but now its magnified by the grandeur and conceptualisation displayed on The Defamation of Strickland Banks. http://youtu.be/s8GvLKTsTuI The title track starts proceedings like a foreword. Containing some notable quotes and a back story to set the scene for where, when and why the events of our main story take place. More than an introduction its a statement of intent. So too, it does for the sound of the album. Its immediate array of anxious, frantic strings (like Stress by Justice) atop old-skool rap beats and Drews venomous rhymes are a happy slap to the face of a stark contrast for anyone expecting ...Defamation Part 2. I Am the Narrator sees our Narrator start his tale. Dialogue ripped straight from the film plays us in as Plan B introduces himself and the world were inhabiting over his tales. Told over the strings from Carnival Of The Animals and a dub inflected hip hop beat, our Narrator paints the picture with his storys characters (drug dealers, gangs, prostitutes, immigrants, the underclass) and the key components of their lives (addiction, violence, crime, sexual abuse, death). From here on out those sections of film dialogue are used as chapter markers. Each introducing a new character and a new tale that the song its attached too revolves around. Initially its a little jarring because it reminds you without doubt that this is attached to a film, which is a detraction. However as you listen and re-listen the dialogue just becomes the foundation for each track and in each scenes candid nature you cant ignore what the song is about and the theme its dealing with. Leaving the Narrators bleak tales inescapable. You cant just listen to the music and ignore the lyrics. Theyve already been laid bare before you in the dialogue, and now the lyrics sink in so much faster. http://youtu.be/UZTazJVrg-Y Though traditionally the protagonists that run the gambit of these tracks arent characters were supposed to like it (drug dealers, gang members, prostitutes), and its not necessary for the album that we do. What is important though is that we empathise; as shock tactic, brutal and bleak as these stories. Almost fresh from the press of the Daily Mail themselves, extreme examples meant to represent a whole, this isnt pretty and neither are these characters. Unlike a significant number of the tabloids and conservatives who Drew is rallying against with this album, these arent horror stories to vilify these characters. Whether its Drug Dealers protagonist whose mother was a heroin addict and spent his youth being abused by National Front member, that lead to his drug dealing that finally brought about his vengeance, Playing With Fires youth whose tricked into gang life after beating his only friend for drugs and rep, The Runaways eastern European, single mother prostitute who kicks the habit and escapes her pimp only to fall back on the game thanks to her broken English (reaching a point where shes fucked in a field for money whilst she breastfeeds her child to keep it quiet), the point is not look at these wrong uns. The point Plan B is getting at is the system that failed them. The system that let them fall this low. The system that never offered them help. The system that vilified them for the way they survive. The system that failed. The government that failed them. The pressed that failed them. We, that failed them. Even going so far as to locate most of these tales in the shadow of the Olympic stadium and villages. Unthinkable amounts of money invested for an occasion, a one off sporting event. Whilst all around are left in near abject poverty that leads to all the scenarios portrayed here. For the most part, Plan B remains the Narrator. However he does break character. On tracks like the title track, Lost My Way and Live Once, he steps out of Narrator and becomes Commentator. In these tracks he pin points the message and pin points the targets of his anger, focussing the abstract message that the harrowing characters he exemplifies throughout the rest of the album. Tackling the riots, broken Britain, the hatemongering of tabloids like The Sun and how these tales are the result of something far bigger than the individuals within them. Theres one unwavering finger too, pointed firmly at David Cameron. http://youtu.be/YuEb04HcJFM Message and stories aside though, the musicality displayed on this album is some of the strongest Plan B has produced. Its not the accessible soul pop of Strickland Banks, family friendly and welcoming, its gritty and abrasive, but thats the point. Though if you sit and take in the music there is plenty on offer, one of the strongest examples being Pity The Plight; haunting sparse piano, spoken word segments from John Cooper Clarke, steady beats and Plan Bs tale of a grieving gang member whose sister was accidentally killed, and a child being forced to stab another member, to prove himself. Perhaps one of the heaviest moments emotionally on an emotionally draining album. Theres a glimmer of hope though, in Live Once. Soulful refrains that reassure everything will okay, that will be better days and raps assuring you that you can be anything you want to be, anything better than this. Its a glimmer of hope and though it is fleeting, it shines through among the album. This album wont likely be enjoyed en masse as his last album, in fact it may well turn a large portion of those fans away. Its a risk, but its done with reason, with purpose, and its that purpose that justifies the extremities of the albums darkest corners. Music doesnt have to be easily digested pop, it can make you think, it can change things. As Plan B spits on Lost My Way, if you dont believe in something, then youll fall for anything.