Roots Manuva: 4everevolution – review

What started out as a collection of songs for other artists to use has evolved into Roots Manuva's fifth album, and it's a good thing he kept them for himself. Not all of 4everevolution shines – tracks such as "First Growth" feel like Manuva by numbers – but there are some gems here, and it's good to hear the veteran south London rapper adapting his gruff tones to such a wide variety of material, from "The Throes of It", a seven-minute, bleeps-and-bass epic, to dreamy Caribbean number "Wha' Mek?". Meanwhile, Manuva casts a withering eye on "nothing-can-change Britain", riddled with greed and corruption, on the nicely sardonic "Skid Valley".