Legendary East London grime collective Roll Deep compile some of their best songs from the last seven, or eight, years. The first half of the set is just stunning– amazing, consistent, commercial-free bangers. There is a disconnect somewhere in the middle of the set, the pop tunes (proto-commercial grime?) kick in, and it’s distracting but you’ll forgive them once hear “Terrible”- one of the groups earliest, if not their first track as Roll Deep crew. It’s essential.
Hmmn. Yeah tracklist looks okay. Wish there was less stuff from In At The Deep End (or perhaps more accurately less of the lousy stuff from In At The Deep End) and more stuff from the various awesome mixtapes from 2003-2004 (Aim High, Lord of the Decks, etc). Maybe there were weird licensing things (missing “Boogieman” seems pretty criminal, frankly, although maybe that’s branded as a Trim solo track w/ lots of members of Roll Deep on it.) “Terrible” is great though (it’s on Garage Rap Vol 1 too along with some other rare early grime gems.)