Hip-hop has come a long way from its birthplace in the South Bronx all those years ago. And while all genres move with the times (it’s either that or the nostalgia circuit, and there is far too much of that going on already), they also need to stay tethered to the elements that defined the genre in the first place. It’s a fine line to walk.
With hip-hop, musically speaking, it was groove (admittedly borrowed ones) and lyricism that defined it. And while PanthaDogg has the sort of technology and studio tricks available to him that those early pioneers could only have dreamed of, groove and lyricsm are the platform upon which he builds Mind How You Go.
And although the genre grew out of a sense of one-upmanship and sonic battle, here the themes are generally more confessional, intimate diary entries, vulnerable poetics, heart on the sleeve honesty. Sure, there are songs that are delivered with recognisable old-school anthemics, such as the opener, “Abandon Ship,” but you also get from-the-heart, bitter-sweet break-up songs, with “You Stay I Go,” a song that has one foot in indie-folk and the other in more rap-infused realms.
“Rhyme Forever” proves that he has the wordy-rapping-chops, a neat lyrical flow of dexterous word play, and one delivered with eloquence and clear diction. (Take note, all you mumble rappers who try to convince us that your half-heard vocal dribble is a style choice.)
Mind How You Go is a brilliant example of where hip-hop, or at least its descendants, are today. It might sound a world away from those originators, but we are half a century on and an ocean apart from its ground zero, so why wouldn’t it? This is the sound of how genres go global, then develop their own regional and cultural style.
Hip-hop. Britain. 2026. This is the sound.
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