After Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Snyder, here comes 19-year-old Theo Kerlin, the latest Brit rapper shooting for a mainstream pop audience. Mocking the genre's hard-man image on "Rope Chain", his debut mixes styles with almost-camp effervescence. So "Bringing It Back" offers a wry synth-pop paean to the 80s, "Nothing to Be Scared Of..." juxtaposes sledgehammer beats with a fey Adam Ant sample, and elsewhere Kerlin toys with soul, punk-funk and rap-rave. Hip hop purists may balk but its imaginative silliness is mightily invigorating.
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Master Shortie, A.D.H.D.
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