Generally Speaking, the long-awaited debut album by roughneck Forest Gate MC duo Newham Generals, is the knockout artistic punch that East London’s grime scene has always threatened but previously failed to deliver. Lighting up the bleak midwinter of 2008-9 like a flaming Swan Vesta in a petrol-tank, it’s exactly the kind of incendiary musical thrill that tough economic times are supposed to produce.
If you’ve seen the hard-hitting virals for ‘Bell Dem Slags’ or ‘Violence’, or the nightmare-inducing video for the single ‘Head Get Mangled’ – shot on location in a derelict mental hospital in Epsom – you’ll have some idea of the kind of 18-rated sonic rampage that’s on the agenda here. But in backing up the uncompromising lyrical stance you’d expect of tracks with those kinds of titles with production that moulds their proud home-grown heritage of reggae sound-systems, drum ‘n’ bass, UK garage, grime and maybe even a little bit of Hackney ‘Ardkore into a fearsome new hybrid which no-one yet has a name for, Newham Generals have created an album with the power to move feet and minds at the same time as it outrages readers of The Daily Mail.
This kind of spontaneous creative combustion doesn’t happen overnight. And in the three years its taken the Newham Generals to fine-tune their powerful musical engine, motor-mouthed mic-chatter Footsie and his laid-back partner in rhyme D Double E have taken the music they love apart and put it back together again. “A lot of people forget that grime is supposed to be dance music”, Footsie explains. “If you go to its nearest relatives, they’re hard-house and techno - things that people really dance to – but that’s got lost a bit. And what we’ve done is put it back, but keeping a lot of grease in the lyrics”.
“People can say it’s taken a long time” Footsie continues, “but in these last three years, just about anyone you might want to call our competition has failed. Check the forums. Everybody’s upset that their favourite artist is letting them down – this guy’s been dropped, these guys are doing tunes with Trident [not an up-and-coming producer, the Met’s gun-crime squad] it’s all just not going well, and that means there’s a big pile of people out there just waiting to be pleased”. Footsie smiles: “They’re in receive mode…”
For what they are about to receive, may the Lord make them truly thankful. Generally Speaking’s indelible blend of homespun beats and black cockney verbal wizardry is about to spray-paint the London borough of Newham onto Britain’s musical map with a toxic flourish. And if anyone’s still wondering why this not-at-all-health-and-safety-conscious duo chose to name themselves after a hospital.
“Listen to all ten tracks of this album in one go, and you’re gonna need an ambulance”, Footsie warns, “because that’s a heart attack right there”. To quote the sing-a-long chorus of “Head Gets Mangled”: “Only a doctor can save your arse”
