Going all the way to the top

Hip Hop Hump Days #10: 

LEVELZ – LVL 11 (2016)

Yeah, that’s right – 2016. I’m using a column that is (with the exception of the Rough Trade compilation I reviewed last time) normally reserved for revisiting classic hip hop albums released in years beginning with ‘19’ to write about a mixtape released JUST LAST MONTH.

Why? It’s simple really - I only heard ‘LVL 11’ for the first time three days ago and I’m already convinced it’s a modern day masterpiece, a future classic in the making. I’m trying to remember the last time I heard a hip hop album as fresh, as inventive, as utterly compelling as this… and I’m still scratching my head.

LEVELZ are a 14-strong collective of rappers, DJs and producers from straight outta Manchester. I know very little else about them, but that’s not important right now because what I DO know is that ‘LVL 11’ not only DEMANDS your full and undivided attention, but manages to hold it through each and every one of its 13 tracks AND leaves you wanting more.

Refreshingly, ‘LVL 11’ is entirely free of those lazy ‘skits’ many hip hops artists rely on to pad out albums. No fillers here – we’re talking exceptional quality from start to finish, an exhilarating showcase of smart, on-point lyrics, breath-taking vocal dexterity (with Mancunian accents in full effect, of course) and crisp, clean production.

This is an album literally bursting at the seams with ideas, which is to be expected when so many different people are bringing something to the table – and yet it never sounds too busy or crowded. Musically, they cover a phenomenal amount of ground, from filthy-but-fresh grime (‘Look Who It Is’, ‘LVL07’) to gloriously hypnotic G-funk (‘King Of The Disco’, ‘Bow Wow’, ‘Slow Down’) through to exuberant dancehall rhythms (‘Rowdy Badd’ – one of the album’s highlights for me) and even Bukem-esque liquid funk (album closer ‘Jazzface’). There’s also razor-sharp social commentary in the form of the fantastically frank ‘Drug Dealer’, while the punchy but humorous ‘Dickhead’ is probably one of the most unapologetically British hip hop tracks you’ll hear this year.

I don’t know what they put in the water in Manchester, but there isn’t a single duff track here – each song bristles with the same boundless energy and enthusiasm: these guys aren’t just fantastically talented at what they do, they actually sound like they’re having fun doing it too.

Astonishingly, for a group who’ve just turned in one of the best albums of the year (and yes, I know it’s only February), it seems LEVELZ are still unsigned. On the one hand, this is utterly staggering because their music very clearly deserves to be heard as many people as humanly possible and yet, for many, it’ll slip under the radar. On the other hand, however, ‘LVL 11’ is an album of pure, undiluted, uncompromising music which its creators have made on their own terms. Crucially, this means it’s free of the curse of major label interference – no one’s looking at pie charts, thinking about market demographics or trying to write a radio-hit-by-numbers. Fuck that shit.

‘LVL 11’ is available to download from the group’s Bandcamp page. You can pay as much or as little as you like. I trust you’ll all do the right thing, because albums this good genuinely don’t come along very often.