The best thing to come out of Britain for a while is what people are calling 'grime'. It's not a great term, but if you don't know the genre, the 'Run the Road' compilations are worth listening to (http://www.runtheroad.com/). Kano, Wiley and Dizzee Rascal have produced good stuff. Lady Sovereign's going to be the star, though.
It's meant to be the sound of south London council estates, grime, but I'm living on one at the moment and anecdotal evidence (my downstairs neighbour) suggests that Jay-Z and (far, far worse) 50 Cent are the sounds that are rocking his world and making their way through my floorboards. I actually find the dull thud of his music quite relaxing with my head under the pillow :(
By the way, the M.I.A. album may be radical according the feature writers, but, in reality, its just a few revolutionary chic slogans with not much at its heart. The music is okay in parts, but mostly disappointing.
Simon
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