Bashy: Catch Me If You Can
Bashy releases his debut Catch Me If You Can
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Friday, 29, May 2009 10:58
Bashy Holdings, out June 1st.
In a nutshell...
Solid, unadventurous, patronising, contradictory and self-involved
What's it all about?
This is Bashy's first official album, including singles Black Boys and Kidulthood 2 Adulthood, which follows the release of successful mix tapes including Ur Mum Vol 1 and The Chupa Chups mix tape.
Who's it by?
Still only 23, Bashy - aka Ashley Thomas - started out on pirate radio alongside leading names like Dizzee Rascal, Kano and others. His involvement in the film Adulthood - the single From Kidulthood to Adulthood was written at the request of director Noel Clark - helped to establish him as a mainstream figure in the grime scene.
As an example...
"I'm saying Bash you're talented - look/The lord blessed you."
"I just want to apologise/On behalf of all the other guys."
"Look into my eyes you'll see a man/On my two size nines is where I choose to stand."
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
This album doesn't really stand out enough to achieve this kind of recognition, but it definitely has strong mainstream appeal.
So is it any good?
Although the album as a whole is musically very safe and not generally inspiring, opening tracks like Catch Me If You Can and She's a Gangsta are fast-paced, distinctive and actually quite funny. The single Kidulthood 2 Adulthood - which, of all the songs, has the most conventional grime sound - is also far above the standard of most of the album and shows what Bashy is capable of as an artist. The real drive behind this single is the subject matter and the mood of the film it was written for. And the problem with the bulk of the rest of album could be a lack of that same kind of inspiration and momentum.
Songs like Day Before I Die sound more like R Kelly than Dizzee Rascal. Meanwhile, Bashy regularly feels the need to instruct, but has no consistency, when Sorry launches into a universal apology to women for misogyny, two songs after he has ripped apart promiscuous girls who go on to be "washed up, diseased" and "beach whales" in Life. At other points, in tracks like Living My Dream, What About Me and many others besides, his sucrose and unoriginal reflections upon life, are intermingled with flashes of hubristic rage and egotism. Ultimately he doesn't seem to know who he is either musically or lyrically.
Bashy is definitely a talented musician, but Catch Me If You Can as a whole is bland and lacks genuine identity.
6.5/10
Julia Ross