HULK SMAAAAASH…

[Video][Myspace]
[6.18]

Anthony Easton: Is the first two minutes of this no music at all, and just yelling? That’s kind of avanty.
[3]

Matt Cibula: Love the energy, dig the flow, like his voice — but what exactly is the point of this song? “I will go around punching people and flipping over their mattresses”? Am I missing something?
[5]

Martin Kavka: Such pointless butchness does nothing but show that Tempa T is a big GIRL.
[1]

Spencer Ackerman: I’m confused. This guy, I think, is rapping about how he’ll perform all sorts of obnoxious-to-felonious capers in pursuit of money, but he’s British, so it’s comical and I don’t believe him, like when I watch Guy Ritchie movies. I think this is supposed to be a joke, though. Right? What’s a “par,” anyway?
[8]

Kat Stevens: I don’t think I’m young or angry enough to appreciate this – I don’t know what a Par is and have never gone on a rampage in Dalston Sainsbury’s (existential crises in Dalston Sainsbury’s, now *they* happen all the time). There are some great rave noises submerged on this track but they never get a chance to surface – sadly trampled into oblivion by Tempa’s hissy fit.
[4]

Alex Macpherson: Oscillating between comedic and genuine menace, Tempa T bangs around smashing things up like a raging, rampaging gremlin; but throughout his repeated crescendoes of destruction, he remains as irrepressible as he is demonic. The mad glee amidst the anger is what makes “Next Hype” such a triumph: catchy and quotable (“I said GET OUT THE CAR!”), malleable enough to be reworked for dubstep and other bass-heavy dancefloors. When Tempz shouts “DRAAAPES!” midway through, echoing No Lay’s cry of “DUUUCKS!” on 2005’s classic “Unorthadox Daughter”, it’s one of the most thrilling adrenaline rushes of the year.
[10]

Chuck Eddy: I like how he takes a bat (cricket, I presume?) to his enemy’s CD rack and promises they won’t get any CDs back — That’ll teach ’em to not go digital! Otherwise, a hard angry rant that gains some conversational credence if not necessarily musicality by not always rhyming. Don’t know enough about recent grime to know whether the anger’s a mere genre requirement; I’m guessing not, giving how many non-angry grime raps we’ve considered here lately. Regardless, Tempa’s unvaried temper does get a bit wearing.
[7]

Michaelangelo Matos: Usually when someone screams this much it grates on me eventually, but this hoarse cartoon-violent anthem just gets better with repetition. Maybe if it becomes enough of a hit they’ll make a real video, too. Or at least snip off the remarkably awful first two minutes.
[8]

Renato Pagnani: When he raps bits of shrapnel fly from his mouth in all directions and little children soil themselves. He sounds like a British DMX, all gruff and bat-shit insane. “Next Hype” is a four-minute aural pummeling over a mangled guitar loop, a constant barrage of threats and shit-talking that sounds legitimately intimidating, something easier said than done in rap.
[7]

John Seroff: Bumstiggitybumstiggitbumhum! Tempa T’s tireless hooligan scream-rapping recalls the vigor and snap of another era of American musicians: Wu-Tang Clan, Beastie Boys, NWA. It’s not so much pleasurable listening as it is a vital dose of adrenaline; the minimal Playstation beat adds nothing but an appropriately flimsy scrim for Tempa’s chatterbox cutthroat street-shanties. Still, I’d gladly welcome the Euro as our new currency if this is grime standard; US hip hop needs to get the boring knocked out of it.
[7]

Martin Skidmore: Grime with no house sounds or chart-targetting slickness – I could as easily call it ragga-accented UK hip hop. It has plenty of muscle and force, though. Tempa T sounds very gangsta, and I’m not sure how well that will play in England – the image is not completely transferrable. Nonetheless, this has punch and I like it.
[8]