Kano – 'Home Sweet Home' (679 Recordings) Released 27/06/05

Were column inches a reliable barometer of commercial status, everyone associated with the harsh mash-up of dancehall's digital din, ragga's aggro-fuelled bounce, hyper-synthetic hip hop beats and battered b-boy bass lines straight outta UK's roughest estates a.k.a. grime would currently be drowning in all the bling a generous serving of benjamins can buy. However, despite keen interest and not inconsiderable investment from major labels, the scene - barring The Streets, by now something of a one-man genre - is yet to enjoy the spoils of either a bona fide hit single or a best-selling album.

Now, two years on from his underground smash 'Boys Love Girls' (included here as a bonus track), it's 19-year old East London MC and ex-footballer Kane 'Kano' Robertson's turn to try his luck in infiltrating the mainstream with his debut album.
While the breakneck delivery of most grime-affiliated MCs can be a bit much for the uninitiated, Kano exchanges the scene's trademark relentless, hectoring tone for a much more adaptable, musical flow. 

Rhyme-wise, 'Home Sweet Home' is a near-schizophrenic mixed bag. One minute Kano is a ASBO-courting well-'ard hoodlum who gets banned from Heathrow, picks up brandy-fuelled fights in nightclubs and informs whoever is within earshot of his ranting that getting a 'nine' to boost his knife-wielding street credibility is a mere formality, the next he's game for a spot of vulnerable introspection and self-doubt, even - gosh - ruminations on relationships.

A few of the attempts to widen grime's stark palette backfire spectacularly. The tipsy samba tinges of 'Remember Me' are not only very, very silly but also among the unfunkiest things ever committed to tape in any genre centred on rhythm. 'Worst offender 'is the Black Sabbath-sampling 'I Don't Know Why', which drags 'Iron Man's' mighty riff to previously unimaginable depths and evokes the odious ghosts of sports metal en route.   

When the beats hit the spot, and they do so frequently, the effect is exhilarating. The pick of the bunch is 'Ghetto Kid', the overdriven bass of which is not so much in your face than well on its way towards drilling a hole through the skull. Although the stripped-to-the-bone step of the title track and the refreshingly organic drum samples of producer wizard du jour Diplo on 'Reload It' comes close to matching it.

"I ain’t commercial but I got hit lines", offers Kano on the boastful 'Ps and Qs', and this balancing act between the undiluted ‘realness’ of the underground and the more sedate tastes of the mainstream is ultimately the shortfall of this ambitious album. The highlights are dazzling, the low points equally rotten, and the sudden swings in mood and sound amount to an album that puzzles as often as it impresses.