Shake your Pants

In the hubub and circumstance of grime, gar-udge, and UK rap hype going today, somebody that's been doin it and doin it and doin it well has a new album.

Rodney Smith, aka Roots Manuva, was born to Jamaican parents living in South London. From his parents' history in the town Banana Hole, the riddims and self-expression came from young Rodney like his own sweat. Awfully Deep, his latest, runs from the swagger and 'tude of much of the UK hip-hop scene, positioning the Rootsy Roots as a jaded observer, possibly bottomed out, but feeling it just the same. The beats have never been better, and the digging into subconscious self-loathing, scene-hating and self-uplift is damned engaging. On the mark, this one. His Heart of Darkness in the jungles of London.