Take a look at this. It’s a cellphone video of Speech Debelle being announced as the winner of the 2009 Mercury Prize, shot by someone at her table. Their reaction says it all: elation, surprise, shock and awe, really. An underdog in the truest sense of the word, Speech Therapy took home the award for best album by beating out a field that included heavy favorites The Horrors, La Roux, Friendly Fires, and a then-little known artist named Florence and the Machine. It was a massive turning point in the South London rapper’s carer, but not just for the reasons you’d expect. Things got better, but then they got worse. The ensuing journey— documented, analyzed and cut to lacquer—unfolds over the neck-nodding beats and righteous melodies of Freedom Of Speech.
Confessionals, love songs, block party affirmations, sociopolitical rants. All subject matter is in bounds on this album, and each tune is supported with a spot-on blend of live band instrumentation and lab-tested synthesis, courtesy of producer Kwes. And her flow? Undeniable. Speech gels with hectic electric guitar (“The Problem”) as easily as she does with sparse acoustic (“Angel Wings”), and “Studio Back Pack Rap” proves that she’s got one of the most inventive cadences in the game right now.
With the Mercury in her rearview, a new album simmering on the hot plate, and an Olympic-sized accomplishment coming soon—a reinterpreted version of her Speech Therapy single, “Spinnin’,” will be the first official song in the 2012 torch relay—Speech Debelle checks back in with ChinaShop for a State of the Union.
