A good portion of this debut from hotly tipped south London rappers Krept and Konan, who bagged a lucrative record deal and various awards in the wake of a hit 2013 mixtape, is spent puzzling over their recent success. How have they managed to make rap pay when so many others struggle and fail? If their reaction sounds subdued, it’s in tune with the music: hard-edged rhymes over slow, austere production that takes cues from trap and dancehall as well as grime. Mainstream exposure hasn’t toned down their machismo – tracks such as Do It for the Gang veer uncomfortably into misogyny – but it’s given them an interesting perspective on the vicissitudes of fame.
