Tinchy Stryder: Third Strike - review

"09 was all mine," barks Tinchy Stryder on the intro to this album. "Padlocked it, had that". He certainly did, with two No 1 singles and a gold album as proof. A year's a long time in UK pop-rap, though, and a new group of artists – including Tinie Tempah and Professor Green – have had comparable, if not greater success in the past 12 months. Stryder's response, by and large, has been to toughen up. His flows are taut and delivered with a snap. There's a lot of shredded guitar and warped bass, sampled gangstas and laddish oi-oi-ing. It's hardly unfamiliar, but it's got enough swagger to pull you along. There's even a British posse cut, featuring Green and Tempah among others. Unfortunately, the gloss is almost entirely removed by four nightmarish outbreaks of euro&b, of which Tomorrow is the worst.