Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me

This is arguably the greatest British hip hop album of all time, certainly if we’re talking about the genre in its purest form, without the garage and grime influences that have come to dominate the scene in more recent years. It heralded the emergence of Rodney Smith as a true original with a big personality, something that is noticeably absent from most contemporary hip hop, certainly on this side of the Atlantic. And what’s more, with ‘Witness (One Hope)’ Smith had penned a bone fide urban classic, a proper anthem for disenfranchised British youth that comes complete with cheese-on-toast reference. A big record, and one that Smith has since built a career on. (Pete Hurst)