After the successful return with Training Day 3 and Thanks For Waiting, the Barking rapper returns with his official label debut Real Back In Style
Having found himself towards the top of the UK rap totem (along with the likes of Nines), this release would have been a tough competitor for such peers, though unfortunately reincarcerated, it’s hindered the rollout and Potter Payper is left to let the music do the talking.
Whilst there’s no accompanying movie or meet and greets to boost sales, it actually speaks volumes for the organic results this project has obtained.
A solid fifteen tracks of pure audio crack, in what might just be his best body of work to date. Each verse spat with the same hunger and venom from his introduction, maybe it’s the mix and mastering, but his intensity with each bar is even greater, like he’s rapping with a new found purpose, and that level of content is complimented by a higher quality of production. Tracks like All My Life, If I Had.. highlight his storytelling abilities, never afraid to be vulnerable with the pen, Potter is able to take you through the ups and the downs of street life, something that allows him to resonate with those infatuated as much as those who live it.
I always say some people make music and some make the soundtrack to our lives, and Real Back In Style is one of those, at a time where I may have needed it most, I was stuck in an unfair business situation and I have to credit it to why after four years, I cut my losses and left. My personal favourite How Can I Explain? has Potter tackle the sample-driven production with ease, an inspirational anthem of victory, sitting well in the middle of the album, it helps highlight the perfect sequencing. The second half of the album only gets better, as if he hadn’t dropped enough bars already, standouts like Toy Story 2, a movie in itself, help portray the craft beyond music, blending well into Scenes,
another example of his high level penmanship, music with a meaning, placing this album above the cool trendy shit that’s been churned out over the years. The introspective Corner Boy served as a single,
classic Potter, displaying more songwriting and structure, but on the album it sets up the hard Track Flocaine, produced by the legendary Harry Fraud, and interestingly Potter Payper doesn’t follow the wave, but adds his own style and element to the production, still maintaining that depth in his vocals and no compromise in his artistry. Now towards the latter part of the album and somehow he’s able to take it to a whole new level with Money or Victims? (Kayla’s Story), it’s this exact ability to let that grit in his voice sit harmoniously over the instrumentation as he paints a dark story, with the listener hanging onto every word as it unfolds. Winding down with Actuality, and White Ash, serving as the outro, closing out with the more retrospective lens of his success.
It has to be noted that there are no features, just pain and inspiration bled through, a rarity in today’s music, especially where major labels are involved, so a special mention for 0207 Def Jam for trusting the home team Groundworks and supporting such a project, undoubtedly proving that Real’s Back in Style.
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