Speech Debelle – Bad Boy (Ninja Tune) [FREE DOWNLOAD]
By: Thomas Hannan
As you’ll probably have heard by now, London rapstress Speech Debelle walked away with the coveted Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize for her efforts with the tremendous Speech Therapy LP on Tuesday night. Whilst our prediction for the winner was incorrect again for the bazillionth year running (we told you our endorsement was a kiss of death, Friendly Fires!), we nonetheless applaud a brave and commendable decision by the judges.
As we explained in our Artist of the Week feature, Speech’s debut album is not only one of the finest hip hop LPs to emerge from this country since the last one to have won the Mercury (Dizzee Rascal’s exemplary Boy In Da Corner), but it’s also reinvigorated the very credibility of the prize itself. It’s meant to exist to champion forward thinking, progressively minded and vital music – and after years of curious judgements, for once, it’s done just that.
In celebration, the kind folks at her label Ninja Tune have offered Rockfeedback a track to download free and legally from said record. Though not a single, ‘Bad Boy’ is one of the record’s dark highlights – contradictory though that may sound, we reckon it’ll be just the ticket to ensure that you’ll check out the rest of this remarkable debut. Download it here.
Artists in this article: Speech Debelle