Punjabi MC – “Beware”
Album Reviews | Sep 6th, 2008
Record Label: Sequence
Genre: Bhanga
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com
Indian-British Punjabi MC hit mainstream success with his international hit “Beware of the Boys” that introduced the world to bhanga – a mix of traditional Indian instruments and melodies with dance beats and repetition.
On the strength of that tune and the hopes of more like it, I picked up the full-length. It ended up not being what I expected, but jury’s still out whether that’s good or not.
Besides Beware and its Jay-Z remix that’s actually VERY good, the rest is uneven. For every upbeat bhanga song (the excellent Jogi and Jatt Ho Giya Sharabee), there’s a boring down-tempo hip hop tune (Mirza Pt. 2, Soundz of the Dez, True MCs), Indian-60s soul (Sweeter), or traditional song (Ghalla Gurian, Jindi Mahi).
On one hand, I was hoping for a more consistently upbeat album, but on the other, you have to commend the MC for mixing up tons of different styles very creatively, while maintaining the Indian sound, and for successfully merging that sound into other genres.
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