Roots Manuva - Back To Mine

The Back to Mine series is ace – just grab some big names and get ‘em to make a compilation album of all their favourite tunes. It takes a different look at what each artists does, points fans in the direction of stuff they could well be into and I bet the artists love making them.

British MC Roots Manuva’s offering plays like a classic hip-hop DJ set. From the opening electronics of Maze and Mantronix the album moves through Dub grooves and James Brown funk. Although there are tunes from a wide range of eras it sounds like the sort of set that Grandmaster Flash would turn-in – the original hip-hop stuff where soul and funk were mixed-in with electro stuff like Kraftwerk. It’s breakdance music, made to be played through a big old ghetto blaster.

This album shows the roots of a lot of urban music that exists nowadays. It sounds like Manuva has a good grasp of where it that he and his thing come from and the tunes that have helped to shape his sound.

This release does exactly what the Back to Mine series sets out for – amongst all this discussion about musical legacies this is simply the stuff that Manuva listens to himself.