Straight From The Soul – Speedy2x (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Mixtape. Album. Compilation. Call it what you will but what we can agree on is the fact that Straight From The Soul is the perfect showcase of Speedy2x‘s sonic style. That style is a blend of old school rap and modern, urban soul, street corner grit and slick uptown club culture but more than that he mixes those styles in new and interesting ways.

Deft lyrical salvos blend with smooth, future-soul deliveries, all textured and tempered with his affected vocal treatments, to create a unique delivery. And within this template Speed2x manages to push not only the boundaries of the genres he has chosen to work with but his own creativity too. I Been is a reflective look down at the competition put to ticking and skittering trap grooves and spacious soundscapes, Believe is the sound of soul music wandering the clubland scene and emerging the other end to help create the urban sound of tomorrow and That’s All is a brooding and slow-burning look at life on the streets threaded through with sultry saxophone and atmospheric electronica.

And the jewel in the sonic crown has to be Stand The Rain, which sees his emotive lyrics float over an otherworldly and atmospheric soundscape, one built of beats and resonant guitar licks, drifting sound washes and trippy percussive tracks.

If you want to know where the urban sound is today and where it is moving to, then this is the album for you. Lyrically it talks of the same old struggles, hopes and ambitions…that is something which never changes. But musically, it is the sound of evolution. You can hear where Speedy2x comes from sonically… the soulful moves, the trap grooves, the chilled clubland vibe and the almost pop accessibility but it is where he is going which is the really interesting aspect of this album. Straight From The Soul is the sound of yesterday crashing into today so that the sound of tomorrow can be born.