Shedding Skin // Ghostpoet
Obaro Ejimiwe, better known by his stage name Ghostpoet, is no stranger to the Mercury prize, with his 2011 debut Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam making the shortlist, eventually falling short to two-time winner PJ Harvey.
His third album, Shedding Skin, has illustrated a change in direction for the London rapper, seeing his mumbled, solemn rhymes coupled with more upbeat, jazz-style drums and a wider array of live instruments, such as guitar. Although this move threatened to alienate many of Ghostpoet’s fan-base, the evolution has given the rapper some needed variation in his set list, with recent single Off Peak Dreams providing a lively, almost pop mission statement.
Shedding Skin is still, however, undeniably Ghostpoet, with his monotone voice fusing dreary, haunting bars with hooky chorus’ and electronic sound beds. Ejimiwe’s strongest weapon, and the reason that he has such a strong affiliation to the Mercury prize, is his ability to avoid any genre in particular, with connoisseurs of rap, electro and indie music all being devoured by his snowballing popularity. The musician’s genre-less brand of hooky spoken-word makes this album, much like his others, very hard to describe using pre-existing examples, but the use of livelier drumbeats and heavily-effected sliding guitars gives Shedding shed the essence of a ‘Radiohead for the tower block community’. One thing that Ghostpoet’s past can promise us is that, whether the rapper wins or loses the 2015 Mercury prize, he will return with even more honest, experimental pieces of art, continuing to obscure any recognisable genre and keeping his fans and critics on their toes.
Words by Matt Ganfield