Album Review

Smod – Smod

• 31st May 2011

I am always up for a little bit of rap delivered in a foreign tongue.

Listening to something such as hip-hop in another language helps me feel a little more cultured, sort of the same way I feel about watching foreign films with the subtitles rather than choosing a dubbed version.

Mali rappers SMOD’s eponymous debut was the first I stuck on amongst a recent batch of review CDs, seduced by the cover splashed brightly with colour and the culturally rich claims of connections to well respected musical legends, produced by Manu Chao and recorded at Amadou and Mariam’s home studio, I felt that I must have struck gold with this one.

Sadly, beyond the cover and the PR spiel, there was little else to excite me or hold my attention.

I just really couldn’t find an entry point to this release, despite my hopes there was nothing much noteworthy, and to label it as ‘rap’ seemed slightly ambitious.

It was all just rather inoffensive background music that wouldn’t sound entirely out of price being played in you local branch of Nando’s.