Headie One’s latest mixtape fails to build on his previous work
Like many UK rappers, Headie One frequently drops mixtapes, but does his latest release, MMM (Monday Marathon Music), offer something new? This time, the project features few names from UK rap, supplemented by international guests, though overall, it’s feature list remains light compared with those of his contemporaries.
Review: MMM Is Listenable but Stale
From the get-go, MMM feels same old, same old, though we give it a chance. After the first track, “Monday Marathon”, we feel we’re in for more of the same. And we’re right: the tape is filled with obvious deliveries and a lack of reinvention.
Mixtapes offer a space to trial new ideas, but approaching track five, there is little to discover. Attaching the label disguises inflexible ways of working, allowing old-guard frameworks to continue.
Headie One remains a student of the craft, one who is happy to sit on his laurels as he settles for a familiar style, one with few, if any, creative anomalies, but I digress. The expanded release‘a collaboration with M Huncho is far better than expected, though Auto-Tune remains a distracting feature.
The Verdict
As we discover little more about Headie One there are few takeaways. Save for a few, each track represents the clichéd styles mainstream artists persist with to reach audiences already firmly within their remit. Tracks like “Wednesday Play”, featuring Luciano, swerve into a lane where Headie dances with change, though not enough.
The rest of the project is a mish-mash of similar sonics and verses that take to the runway but refuse to take off. MMM is good for background listening, but I wouldn’t let it take up space in my library.
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