Album: Chipmunk - 'I Am Chipmunk'

Liz Moores

15/10/09

Can North London's latest grime export deliver the goods?

Winner of Best Hip Hop Act at the MOBOS this year, Chipmunk is hotly tipped for big things - and at only 18 years old, that's no mean feat. With a current number one single, can I Am Chipmunk, his first album proper, validate the hype?

Opening with a - yawn - brag rap in the form of Saviour is a worrying move, but a swift move on to the floor-filling Chip Diddy Chip, which was out in March and featured Tim Westwood in the video is a wise move. Signature tracks don't come much better than this; turn it up loud and you'll get it.

Summer single Diamond Rings has a jaunty, two tone inspired beat that helped it hit number 6 in July, but it's current UK chart number one single Oopsy Daisy that put Chip on the top of the pile. The latter is like a poor man's N Dubz (and that's pretty cheap) - it's a low point in the record, and certainly not his worthiest effort.

N Dubz actually feature on the very sentimental Lose My Life, and it's more throwaway pop with incrongurous lyrics about Chipmunk protecting his girl from the game. In between picking up his EMA presumably.

Man Dem featuring Tinchy Straaaaiiider, however, is full-on Boy Better Know style grime, full of London urban slang and dirty, skipping beats and lightly-touched synths.

"The other thing that I'm in is telligent," he raps in his severely Kayne-alike flow on I AM, but despite the obvious comparisons with Mr West's style, Chipmunk has a point - his rhymes are smart and sharp, and deceptively catchy.

It's easy to be snide about I Am Chipmunk, but when you consider Chipmunk AKA Jamal Fyffe is only 18, it feels kind of mean, in a very grown up way. Without wanting to be patronising, it's no wonder that this record is a bit skittish, veering from style to style. That certainly doesn't mean it's not very entertaining, not to mention promising.