Samantha’s view – I love this album. There are a few amazing tracks and if you played on shuffle you would forget its a beat boxer. I agree with Owen, Mystro and Stig of the Dump is a great comical track. My favourite track is another level with Skibidee and Double S, it s a crazy beat….
Hood Celebrities Review Faith SFX – Man or Machine
As Skibadee says “this aint beat boxin we gone to another level” Yo when I got asked to review this I was sceptical to say the least…thinking review a beat boxing mixtape…come on bruv you joking!?!? To be constantly proved wrong and be shown new things especially in a musical sense is what makes music such a special thing. To say I rate this mixtape is an understatement, to say I’m bumming this mixtape is a phrase too far lol…but I am not gonna get too analytical with this review, it’s a case of do what you gotta do fpr the day but take this cd with you for some musical companionship.
Faith SFX has hit the perfect blend of integrating his unusual talent of being able to replicate beats and sounds with a sound production behind him and the two contemplate themselves perfectly, often intertwining and then emphasising one of the other to make shit happen. There is a definite feel of a UK hip hop vibe as being the subtle undercurrent keeping things moving but songs such as ‘Inspiration’ have that dub feel to it to project a more emotive ballad feel to the track.
In contrast the track ‘Man or Machine’ has more of a upbeat quality to the song, a strong dubstep feel which works well with Faith adlibbing in the background and Random Impulse viciously attacking the track with venom and giving that feel that I should be listening to this track at 3am after doing something shady and sulkily creeping through the back streets being chased by the characters from Clockwork Orange. ‘Dangerous’ feat. Cyko Logic also impressed me and was also on that same kinda tip, and although I had never heard of Logic the whole track reminded me of early grime when it was going on like that and I will definitely be trying to kop more of his stuff in the near future.
The ‘Cypher’ skit with Stig of the Dump and Mystro was a good little break in proceedings and brought a moment of humour to the mixtape and allowed not only all three artists to showcase their talents but allowed Faith to go on acoustic and push through the harmonics of what he can do…twitter lyric got me laughing too!!!
When looking at the tracklist before reviewing I saw the mixtape had a strong finish with Wretch 32, Ghetts and Black The Ripper coming on but its gotta be said that the mixtape definitely started out stronger than ended. That is not detracting from any of the tracks as they are still hot as Faith keeps a very flowing beat on ‘Play hard’ and Wretch 32 does have some valid content to the track and Ghetts portrays some very metaphorical imagery in ‘Road trip’ which is seemingly showing how he is evolving his lyrical content almost projecting himself on an allegorical level. I wasn’t massively impressed with Scorcher and Black The Ripper on ‘Get Away’ and thought simply it was a mixtape filler.
The tape began and ended in true style although delivered quite differently. Scrufizzer came in on a hype ting on the intro and it sets things up perfectly often sparring with Faith in some kind of lyrical boxing match, with the hook prophesising that someone needs to “ring the alarm cause Faith SFX is here now” – true say, cause he arrived and brought something differently on this mixtape…I hope this gets the props it deserves. All this done with no digital production and the thing is bursting with cleverness that doesn’t bore the listener at any point. Lowkey kills it at the end with some truth…come on what did you expect!!!
A quick mention also needs to go out to Skibadee and Double S on ‘Another Level’ as the speed that they deliver the lyrics on is carefully crafted with Faith managing to hit certain words with a crisp drum snare type noise, which punches home the wording to the listener. ‘Hanging On’ with Emeli Sande, Baby Blue and Maverick also gives another dimension to the mixtape as it gives it a R’n’B type aspect to the mixtape and I liked it, Emeli’s voice draws you in on the hook and makes you draw for the reload.
