Now This I Have To Hear

The plan all along was for 2003’s What’s Confusing You to set Messiah J & The Expert’s blueprint allowing what was to follow to provide the rubber stamp. And while their debut negotiated the difficult blueprint that is Irish hip-hop and demonstrated more than ample potential in the process, we never quite expected this from its follow up. We never thought that an album of such accomplishment, such astuteness and, above all, one brimming with so much crossover potential awaited. Messiah J & The Expert’s statement of intent is, should and will become a definitive one.

Great albums often defy categorisation. ‘Now This I Have To Hear’ is much more therefore than just a hip-hop album. As expected there’s no macho bullshit, but more importantly, there’s no underground obscurity. If anything ‘Now This I Have To Hear’ is a great pop record. ‘The Boys Have Had Enough’ is the only song that veers towards Irritating Rap™. The remaining twelve come nowhere close.

At the heart of proceedings Messiah J’s lyrics are, like those of his own lyrical messiah Morrissey, equal parts arse ticklingly witty and head scratchingly sharp. Yet it’s his stirring honesty that strikes the greatest cord of all, particularly on the aching O.A.P tale of ‘VIP’ and the love found/lost couplet of ‘All The Other Girls’/’FR112’.

However, stood next to What’s Confusing You, this is The Expert’s album. Lyrical deftness had almost been a given with the Dublin duo, but such invention and seamless continuity was not. The silent one’s contribution is as subtle (No Bagsies, No Keepsies) as it is at times mind-boggling (Spectator Sport). It’s simply a marvel of production that acts as catalyst for a leap forward that justifiably marks Messiah J & The Expert as one of the most exciting bands around. And they may just delivered one of the most exciting albums of the year in the process.