ATMOSPHERE
Strictly Leakage (Re-Issue)
(Rhymesayers Entertainment)
You’d be forgiven for thinking Strictly Leakage would sound and feel dated, it’s been a long time since the Santa of Hip Hop dropped a download into our stockings. Everything about the world has changed what feels like a thousand times over in the intervening years and yet - this still feels as fresh as it did when I first heard it a couple of life times ago.
If you weren’t listening before the free download vanished from the internet, or didn’t keep a digital archive of downloads from the first decade of the century - actually even if you did - this is nothing short of a treat. It’s interesting to revisit old favourites to see if they land differently years later, or if they pull you back on a tsunami of nostalgia to your relative youth.
Slug and Ant have a two pronged midas touch, the combination of lyrics and production are so beautifully mixed it’s hard to not slip into a grin and groove your way about whatever life has you doing at that particular moment. Way back when, Strictly Leakage divided opinion - criticised for being a step toward the mainstream, samey if you will whilst being revered in the other camp for it’s upbeat tone and the echoes of classic Hip Hop which are arguably what lends it, it’s timeless feel.
Ultimately, Strictly Leakage is fun - samples, break beats and lyrical prowess - it might not be high brow and experimental but it doesn’t need to be - this wasn’t about breaking new ground or making money - this was free, this was a gift from the artists to the fans. Back in a time when we didn’t have a boatload of social media and live streaming services to forge a parasocial relationship with the people we admired, when the connection was all in the music and how it spoke to you. If that isn’t something worth investigating - I’m not sure what is.
Oh, and when you’re done with Strictly Leakage - go listen to ‘When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold’
