“Defamation of Strickland Banks” Album Review by Plan B

Defamation
of Strickland Banksby Plan B

An entirely fictional account wherein Drew enacts the persona of a felon soul-singer chasing redemption and forgiveness of the highest order, intimate cries intended only for the mirror and God. Despite the fictional nature of the stories, they ring through as soul-crushingly authentic and strikingly beautiful through tragic nature.

The solo effort ‘Who Needs Actions When You’ve Got Words’ from British musician Ben Drew, aka ‘Plan B’ flashed major talent but somehow failed to resonate. ‘Charmaine’ stood out, as Drew told the tale of falling for a 14 year old, channeling Musiq’s classic ‘Seventeen’. Though lacking the craftmanship of ‘Seventeen’, ‘Charmaine’ is a a heart felt tale of instincts betraying morals of the sort that usually is found only in the finest of literature and rarely found in song. Despite such moments of gut wrenching storytelling, there were a lot of segments to ‘Who Needs Action’ that fell apart as forced and cliche . . . resoundingly feeling inauthentic.

Shortly thereafter came Plan B’s ‘Paint it Blacker’ mixtape that led the listener to believe the larger process of melodic songwriting may have been Drew’s primary holdback, as simply sitting back and bussin’ rhymes over heavy samples allowed him to shine through strongly. As brilliant as the mixtape was broadly, near the end of the mixtape was a genuinely raw and soulful rape and murder ditty called ‘James Brown is Dead’ that displayed a vocal range not effectively used from a male performer since Remy Shand. Clearly . . . HOPEFULLY . . . far from a truthful tale, ‘James Brown is Dead’ still shone off as incredibely, eerily, genuine. The type of track to throw the listener’s perception of Drew for a loop. Was Plan B a potentially great MC or was there a more transcendental musician lying underneath the surface dying to get out? The question would soon enough be answered.

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‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’ is an entirely fictional account wherein Drew enacts the persona of a felon soul-singer chasing redemption and forgiveness of the highest order, intimate cries intended only for the mirror and God. Despite the fictional nature of the stories, they ring through as soul-crushingly authentic and strikingly beautiful through tragic nature.

In higher brow publications such as ‘The Atlantic’, there has been a large movement of critique of hip-hop that begs the art to come back to it’s connection to ‘the streets’, as even the most skilled of rappers substitute cartoonish efforts to shock and show bravado in place of telling the tragic tales of today’s broken hearted. Filling this void is where ‘Plan B’ shines through, with tales of mental illness, violence against women and repeat incarceration that leaves one wondering if ‘Defamation’ was a work of fiction or a séance.

After a listen through ‘Defamation’, it is apparent that Plan B is a once in a generation talent. Anyone burning up internet message boards with hate messages about artists not keeping it ‘real’ should shut up, put on their headphones, and listen to this diamond of an album.

James Brown may be dead, but Ben Drew is very much alive.