For all his attempts to be the UK’s Eminem, Professor Green’s patter lacks anger.
Here, on his third album, the Hackney rapper never sounds dangerous. Pop-glossed nods to ’90s house and dubstep make it sound resolutely commercial, but lacking in personality.
Lyrically, the tracks are a three-way split between tedious lad bantz, ‘oh, the fame!’ rhetoric and the bits where he Gets Real and deploys the strings. ‘Fast Life’ sounds especially schmaltzy as Example is roped in for a saccharine tale of a one-night stand that sounds like an East 17 Christmas single.
Green is never going to be a gritty rapper – but even taken as a straight-up pop-rap record, ‘Growing Up In Public’ is disappointingly tame.
3/10
Words: Will Salmon
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Listen to ‘Growing Up In Public’ via Deezer, below…
