02-05-2025
Wretch 32, Home?: dazzling work from a once-reckless youth
Did you ever expect to hear a grime rapper busting rhymes about accountancy problems? Amidst an atmospheric swirl of samples and beats on the opening track of his ambitious and compelling seventh album Home?, veteran grime star Wretch 32 does exactly that. 'I'm the GOAT but I can't afford my mortgage!' the 40-year-old Jermaine Scott snaps with pained outrage on Transitional Chapter. 'Asking my accountant how my wins become my losses? / You suffer when you boss it, try'na tweak my outgoings / There's an office in my office!'
Reviewing his life, Wretch (to give him his Grime name) offers moving thoughts on the struggles of a hard-scrabble youth: 'We're deep in the gutter / Where we reached for our mothers / But they're working overtime / So there wasn't time to hug us / Now the streets we becometh.' But it's not long before he's mischievously complaining, 'I preferred when dodging bullets was my problem / This tax robbing isn't common in the House of Commons.'
Right now, Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap are mired in controversy over provocative remarks, with cancelled concerts and an investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. It doesn't seem so long ago that grime was a similar target, with police breaking up concerts and then-Prime Minister David Cameron denouncing the genre for 'encouraging people to carry knives and guns.'
Yet in recent years, veteran Grime artists including Kano, Ghetts, Skepta and Headie One have been producing complex autobiographical works, while breakout star Stormzy has become a national treasure – his forthcoming collaboration with the National Theatre affirming hs status as an establishment figure.
Having survived its reckless youth, grime has matured into one of modern Britain's richest musical styles, and this dazzling work from Wretch 32 is up there with the best. In truth, Wretch (a nickname from his mother, meaning skinny in Jamaican slang) has long been one of the most serious-minded and socially conscious grime artists. A former member of the Combination Chain Gang, he has scored pop hits, written books and poetry, and now holds a senior role as Creative Director with 0207 Def Jam.
Like the best rap albums, Home? is infused with musicality, drawing on reggae, afrobeat, garage and R'n'B, punctuated by horns, guitars and a swimmy dubby sensuality. Wretch is a sharp wordsmith who also sings with a raw sweetness reminiscent of Bob Marley. It is a collaborative medium, and Wretch has marshalled outstanding talents: singers Angel, Teni, Protoje, Skip Marley and WSTRN, with punchy contributions from Little Simz, Ghetts and Top Boy star Kano. Soundbites from documentary Scenes From The Farm, about life on Tottenham's Broadwater Farm estate in the wake of the terrible mid-80s riots, give thematic focus to ideas of home and what it means to be Black and British.
As a second-generation Jamaican, angered by the Windrush scandal, a sense of political frustration bubbles throughout. Yet it's not a heavy album, there's joy in the Caribbean, African and British blend, with sing-along melodies and danceable rhythms. Home? sugars bitter pills with sweet sounds. Just as revolutionaries often mature into statesmen, grime's once-controversial rebel youth are taking the reins right now in British popular music. Sometimes you just have to let people grow up.
