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| War with words: Plan B has taken a personal approach to the 2011 August riots |
Apart from Enter Shikari, there are no other artists out there at the moment releasing such politically charged music at this point in time. What is most astonishing is the fact that these two artists are getting that all important airplay from BBC Radio 1 which most importantly enables an artist to be a success or a failure. 'Ill Manors' (stylized as ill MANORS) is Plan B's latest single, a single which features the rapper who's real name is Ben Drew, on the complete opposite end of the musical scale compared to the sounds of his lady killing sophomore album 'The Defamation of Strickland Banks'. With a musical film in the pipeline which is set to don the same title as his latest single, Drew it seems has been given an inexplicable amount of poetic licence to convey all his views, feelings and emotions on the big screen and the little screen. Plan B has hung up his swaggeristic suits in a video where we seem him strip down to the bear essentials, inspirationally harking back to his working class route - he has an underlying point to prove. It is the riots of 2011 that have been the muse for this latest tune, or should I say political manifesto by rapper Plan B, he talks a lot of sense a proves a lot of points which are undoubtedly true like for one the construction of the Olympic Park right in east London at the fringe of some of the most impoverished dwellings in London.
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| Plan B can empathise with the working class in some of London's worst areas. |
So this month's edition of the influential NME Magazine features an interview with Plan B in which he speaks avidly his feelings about the status quo regarding last summer's nationwide riots and why they occurred. At a point where we are opening up the case on the 2011 England Riots, this is an equally alluring period for Plan B to release a record of such politically influential magnitude. Plan B is obviously targeting the incumbent government, he feels the underclass have been ignored for several years and what we saw last summer is the backlash of this categorical ignorance. Mr Drew is no idiot and he truly believes that the working class who have been shunned for decades have their own equal rights, and so they should. He is obviously incensed at the fact that now the riots are over, and it all occurred long ago, it's all been swept under the rug once more for it to boil over another time it seems. He is ticking all the right boxes and he has cleverly instigated a political attack which targets the very youths who are soon to be the future of this country, we as young people listen to the record, but it is very difficult to ignore the message being portrayed despite it being a brilliant record at the same time. He uses good music as a weapon to attack the government, and by this we don't just mean the Conservatives, it's Parliament and the whole malfunctioning system as a whole. Plan B also went on to say, "When the riots happened, I was so upset. The only people I cared about was the kids. I thought, 'Ah, for fuck's sake, you've just made things 10 times harder for yourselves. Society? David Cameron? You've just played right into their hands. You've just proved everything they've been saying'." The record charted at #6 on today's Official Midweek Sales Chart and if sales continue to thrive it will chart within the top 5 this Sunday. The people are listening to Plan B, the real question is, is the Prime Minister?
- 'Ill Manors' by Plan B is out now.
