Speech Debelle - tantil before I breathe

Speech Debelle's third full-length album release comes as a welcome reminder of just why this talented South London rapper and MC so deservedly won the Mercury Prize back in 2009 with Speech Therapy. Not for her the red rag, frustration-fuelled aggression in her delivery. Instead we get velvety yet earnest tones of urgency and gravity, borne out of political and social awareness, yet believing that at least some of the answers can come from a shared sense of community. Tantil before i breathe includes all four tracks from last year's breathe. EP, and the six new songs become the fruit that grew from blossom pollinated during that release. Food becomes a recurring theme. Along with shelter and a sense of purpose in life it ensures a community's survival, yet, as in Fish Tea, it also becomes a metaphor for urban living – 'We won't fit inside your cage'. Buy this album for its mantra, or buy it for its lush cellos, lazy saxophones and floaty flutes. Either way you will not be disappointed - Speech Debelle is a lyrical, and culinary, force with which to reckon. As speaks the graffiti on the M25, give peas (and rice) a chance.