I strongly suspect this album was sent to me around the time of our last UK Hip Hop Month, but it slipped through the cracks until now. Even though a more official version was released through Hoodtapes and other UK mixtape sites in December, this version contained nothing but clean dubs of her songs, many lacking MP3 tags for artist and album name. Trying to find all of Skrilla UGQ's tracks after importing the unzipped folder to iTunes was a needle and haystack affair. I really wish artists would make these things easier on reviewers.

Unfortunately I don't believe it was ultimately worth the effort. I've spent the time to compile her songs together on my playlist, listen to them multiple times, and I'm not convinced her sound and style is that special. Let's give credit where it's due - the UK scene doesn't overflow with female exports - so it's nice to hear a woman with the typical English-by-way-of-Jamaica accent. Beyond that there are major problems. Take "Zone" for example, where she spends more of the song singing than rapping, and an unnamed (lucky for him or her) producer seems obsessed with manipulating Pac-Man sound effects. "To the Floor" is even more obnoxious though - I really don't need to hear a UK female emcee singing "I'ma drop it to the flo'" - I can already get that whack shit in a Cockney accent from Nicki Minaj. "Bring Back the Realness" feels a bit ironic:

"Yo, what I promote is realness - cool the gimmicks
Some rappers won't understand but O.G.'s will feel it
Nuff, guessin, but how much are they session?"

Skrilla I could ask you the same. One version of "Turn It Up" makes me want to do what the title implies, but only because it has a Dirty South sound similar to a DJ Paul album. The "Gully Funk" remix is best skipped. Her song titles express simple sentiments, which is at least appropriate given the simple rhymes, such as on "Count Down." "Leave {*censored*} sour faces like when milk curdles/Their lines are kinda flabby, man they need a girdle." Other nursery rhyme songs include "Work Hard," "Can't Fall" and "Back It Up." I wanted to like Skrilla UGQ, because I'd like to see the rap scene invigorated by a hardcore female spitter from the United Kingdom, but instead Skrilla sets her own scene back years.

Music Vibes: 4 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 4 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 4 of 10

Originally posted: March 12th, 2013
source: www.RapReviews.com