British hip-hop spawned a new star with London-based producer-songwriter James ‘Jim Legxacy’ Folarunso, who built popularity with a prolific run of mixtapes and EPs and especially, a high-profile production credit on Dave and Central Cee’s hit, Sprinter. His second self-produced mixtape black british music, a series of lively pop-rap productions, introduced a new voice to the hip-hop scene, somewhere in between Playboi Carti’s trap-rap and Kanye West’s pop-rap confessions but with a decidedly British edge.
The prototype track is the swirling female vocal harmonies, trap-rap and drill vocalisations, free-form structure, interplay between chopped vocal samples and rapping and short snippet-sized track lengths of Stick. The formula is recycled on New David Bowie (equally catchy and cerebral), father (sensitive lyrics and garage-spiced production) and d.b.a.b (the most afrobeat). These tracks pioneer an entirely new approach to emo-rap with garage, drill, afrobeat and trap fusions. Sometimes, the confessional lyrics border on the ridiculous but the earnest and lively performances keep the show on the road.
The album also spans several other genres. 06 Wayne Rooney reaches for stadium-grade dance-rock awkwardly. Better is the quintessential imitation of Lil Peep on Issues of Trust with gentle folk arpeggiation and poignant violin, which accentuate the emotional outpour. Big Time Forward fuses his typical style with reggaeton-flavoured club music. Most innovative of all (which packs a lot into its 2 minutes – though still more of a snapshot than a full track) is I Just banged a snus in canada water, where the drill beat is fused with a new age piano carillon and a furious delivery.
Unfortunately the rest of the tracks probably could have remained on the cutting room floor. Despite the solid production, Sun is fairly average British hip-hop. The somber atmosphere courtesy of Spanish guitar (a la Polo G’s emo-rap) on 3x feels mostly derivative and Dave’s verse is disappointing. The digital humming atmosphere on tiger driver ‘91 doesn’t really lead anywhere. SOS is a terrible pop ballad a la Drake. Dexters phone call is a superior version but still elicits more deja-vu than the catharsis it strives for.
His artful combination of drill, garage and trap basically invents a new format though the stylistic variety eventually reveals limitations. It is a shame as with more focus, as Folarunso occasionally lands on genius and with more focus, this could have been a landmark recording.
Several tracks are essentially snippets which arguably improves the overall experience by limiting the repetitious elements and highlighting the conveyor belt of ideas.
Label: XL
Released: 18 July, 2025
Losing My Edge Rating: 6/10
Best Tracks: Stick, New david bowie, I Just banged a snus