Plan B: The Defamation Of Strickland Banks
Plan B's new album The Defamation Of Strickland Banks is a total change of direction from his first album Who Needs Actions When You Have Words. It's a Concept album with a cool story, mixing Motown and rap. It's an absolute masterpiece! If you heard his first rap album it‘s hard to believe that this guy has such a deep brilliant voice!
But who is this british guy called Ben? He grew up in London's East End. His first influences have been jungle music and hip hop, The Prodigy and punk, and wanting to be a rebel like Johnny Rotten, the godfather of punk. Ben says „Growing up in London, you’ve got to be pretty tough, you’ve got to let people know that they can’t f.... with you. “
Ben wanted to be heard, but no one wanted to listen to a white boy from Forest Gate. Some years ahead Eminem came along, and gave him his self confidence he needed to find is own style and that it‘s OK to rap in the voice of a white boy from L-E-E (London‘s East End). Rapping and singing in his own accent, playing his guitar, Ben began to tell stories about the world he’d grown up in. And that is what makes him that unique and strong, like the song ‘Kidz’, inspired by the murder of south London schoolboy Damilola Taylor.
It seems that the Forest Gate kid who shocked the public back in 2006 has grown up and is showing us with this unbelievable album his real roots. „The Defamation of Strickland Banks“ is the sound of Motown, Stax and obscure Northern Soul, filtered through the grit of contemporary East London. It is Smokey Robinson miraculously fused with Eminem. It’s an urban fairytale, the story of a man who finds success hard to handle and then hits rock bottom. A sweet soul morsel with a razor-sharp edge.
His new album The Defamation Of Strickland Banks will hit the stores in just a few days. Watch out and behave.
Further Information
www.time4planb.co.uk
