by: Sean Boy
Roots Manuva, aka Rodney Smith, is a fairly recent star in the UK's hip hop scene. In 1999 Manuva dropped a debut album (Brand New Second Hand) to critical acclaim, commercial success and an instant chorus of "Classic!" Now he's left with his own shoes to fill. In the typical label propaganda biography Manuva confesses he had "a lot more time to freak out and be totally creative. I was left to mess about. I felt like Quincy Jones!" No doubt Roots Manuva is freaky creative. Born of Jamaican parents, his father a Pentecostal preacher, his flow mirrors this background: blunted dance-hall, dub and skank ala Lee Perry. Ingenious rhymes and beats, minimal, strung along with a clatter of electronic noises and scratches, are anything but typical. Manuva himself is responsible for some of the tightest production, assuming Hylton Smythe is another alias. Regrettably, Manuva fails to maintain his creative freak out for the entire album. Run Come Save Me kicks in and wraps up strong, but slips and goes muddy in the middle. But considering tracks like "Join the Dots" (with Angeleno guest Chali 2na), "Witness (1 Hope) and "Bashment Boogie," if Run Come Save Me is Root Manuvašs sophomore slump, then expect nothing but sheer dopeness in the future.
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