Rizzle Kicks – Down With The Trumpets
They appear on the next Olly Murs single, so don’t be too nice…
[Video][Website]
[6.40]
Michaela Drapes: I consider myself an unrepentant Anglophile; it pains me that this will never play here in the States. I could say they were Soulja Boy-esque, but the decks and The Libertine poster on the walls of what I can only assume is one of the Rizzle’s actual bedrooms in the video, smashes that comparison right to bits. As does the English schoolboy rap and incongruous mariachi sample running underneath this … So, perhaps that makes them more Fresh Prince-ish then? Yes, that’s it exactly.
[7]
Alex Ostroff: Decent rapping, but the best thing about “Down With The Trumpets” is the sample, and the swooning horns over top of bouncing bass persistently remind me of SoCalled‘s klezmer hip-hop. Compared to SoCalled’s multilingual, funny, personality-filled music, Rizzle Kicks come off as having happened upon a nice idea that remains less than fully realized.
[5]
Brad Shoup: So this track made me cue up “Tres Delinquentes,” but when I came back, all I could see was Avalanches, which is fine as well. Boast quality really drops off after the first verse, but two smartasses rapping sardonic is usually a straight path to my heart. Shame about the singing, though.
[6]
Ian Mathers: Well, that’s the closest thing I’ve heard yet to a UK Nate Dogg; he could use some work, but he’s young. Which is half the point of the song, I guess. It’s clever enough, it’s bouncy enough, but I think I’ll withhold judgment until I hear how they can do without the trumpets.
[6]
Iain Mew: Although their schoolboy humour stays just the right side of obnoxious, they throw away their only clever lines (Wilson/Bilson) immediately and by the end it starts to feel like they’re not really sure how to drag this out to song length. Still, those trumpets do a lot for it.
[5]
Pete Baran: I’d prefer a better trumpet line to get down with, but its nice to hear confident UK hip hop what isn’t completely about how many records you are going to sell, have sold, and how your life is so different now to how it was last year. Which unfortunately may mean Rizzle Kicks are indeed not going to sell much, which would be a pity. Lots of fun.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Two British kids are rapping over and singing in unison with mariachi while putting Rachel Bilson into their hashtags and making a brass/bras pun only British kids can. The video has them smuggling trumpets through a subdivision. Get rid of Asher Roth and friends; their services are moot.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: The second verse of this is practically dead air, but the trumpets are pretty fantastic and neither of Rizzle Kicks are stupid enough to stand in their way. Instead, they deliver with mostly-interchangeable cheek and charm.
[8]
Anthony Easton: This is how you do a summer track that is rich with lyrical detail, genuinely fun, and not worn out from old attempts at the same kind of emotions. Great flow, and decent singing.
[6]
Jer Fairall: Drop a reference to Rachel Bilson in 2011 and you may as well be dropping one to Ted Danson, but otherwise this is a charmingly canny attempt at early hip hop, from the used-record-store horn sample to the perfectly unobstructed boom-tick beat. I wish there was a little more personality to the vocals, but this should make for a breezy summertime jam in a season that has been dishearteningly low on them.
[7]