After conquering the worlds of grime and fashion you’d think Stryder would be feeling pretty confident, yet much of ‘Third Strike’ seems preoccupied with addressing his doubters. He doth protest too much. At this point his position as grime’s most bankable asset looks unassailable, and this will sell a bazillion.
Which is fine, if MOR rap with radio-friendly ‘grit’ is your thing. The problems come when Stryder strives for soulful, and comes up with Stinking Bishop like the Taio Cruz collab ‘Second Chance’. It’s all inoffensive stuff. But people of the UK, is that what you want from your rappers?
4/10
Words by Will Salmon
