Underground Hero
On first hearing of a hip hop artist-cum-second year computer science undergraduate at Teddy Hall, I desperately longed for some kind of novelty. For some reason I imagined him looking like the lovechild of Macaulay Culkin and Bill Gates, and sounding like David Cameron trying to rap over a party political broadcast.
Part of me was almost disappointed to find out that Zuby is somewhat more substantial than this, as he acknowledges himself: “Yeah, I went to public school / but don’t change the subject fool.” Commercial Undergound, Zuby’s eight track debut EP is an ambitious and confident debut, whose strength lies in immediate, fast-paced refrains and a fabric of electronic beats which holds the tracks in check.
Steppin’ 2 Me and Lyrical Delivery Pt 2 both orbit around a unique and catchy chorus which Zuby delivers at breakneck speed. Lyrically Zuby is at his strongest on tracks such as Before (Tell Me Why), a diatribe against the violence endemic in hip hop culture, and a reflection on restrictive black stereotypes. Zuby loses his sharpness, however, each time he blunders into another hip hop cliché, something which happens rather too often on Commercial Underground.
Baby Baby, although seething with good beats, is essentially just another song about dancing with girls in a club, let down further by a grating female vocal refrain. It is hard not to cringe during Worldwide, as Zuby appeals to the “northside, southside, eastside, westside”, a predictable hip hop staple. In spite of this, however, Commercial Undergound remains a promising and well-fleshedout debut and people looking for a novelty act will find something much more meaningful.
Anyone with an interest in hip hop, curious about seeing some local talent, should try and catch him on 15 June when he plays Escape.
8th Jun 2006