ALBUM REVIEW: Professor Green 'Growing Up In Public'

Rating:

Since his last full length album At Your Inconvenience was released in 2011, Professor Green has made numerous headlines in the press; he married former Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackinstosh, was crushed between two cars on the way to performing a live show and was then both mugged and arrested for drink driving on the same night, but unfortunately not many, if any at all, have been about his music. With new album Growing Up In Public finally emerging after a hectic three years, Pro Green finally has a chance to put the focus back onto his music but the ten track offering is unlikely to be a standout moment in the thirty year old’s career as this uninspiring album fails to live up to expectations.

Growing Up In Public is a very autobiographical album that sees Green therapeutically discuss a wide range of topics and stories from his personal life with his relationship with Mackintosh discussed on a number of tracks, so the ‘Read All About It’ rapper must be commended for tackling issues that others would shy away from. But Pro Green has never been one to struggle when it comes to his lyrics and his ability and technique have earned him respect amongst both commercial and underground rap fans alike. Tracks like album opener ‘I Need Church’ and ‘Name In Lights’ showcase his lyrical competence brilliantly and, in the former, he even has time to take a swipe at Robbie Williams and The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue with the lyrics “errm Danny O’Donowho what/I would rather listen to Rudebox by Robbie Williams/that’s a lie/I would rather not listen to either of these two knobs”.

But musically, the album isn’t pushing any boundaries and like his last release, Growing Up In Public is very much an album with few highlights. One of those highlights is the lead single ‘Lullaby’, which features talented US singer/songwriter Tori Kelly on the hook. The string-heavy singalong track is one of the strongest on the album and it is easy to see why it was chosen as the lead single, considering that it is easily the most chart friendly, commercial sounding track of the ten. But gaining support from a range of artists, such as recent chart topper Mr Probz, up and coming vocalist Thabo and chart favourites Rizzle Kicks doesn’t manage to ignite this release into the scorcher that, coming from someone with Greens talent, it should be and the second half of the album is full of forgettable tracks that feel as though they have only been included to ensure the track listing reaches double figures.

It is great to see an artist who has come up through the urban scene include a whole host of instrumentation on his album, but for all the electric and acoustic guitar-lead tracks, of which there are numerous, the punchy, exciting and energetic vibe that Pro Green has been known to produce in the past just isn’t there with ‘In The Shadow Of The Sun’ and ‘Fast Life’ both providing examples of tracks that set off with promising hooks but never really take off and end up fizzling out. From an awful voicemail skit from Robbie Williams in reply to Green’s diss at the end of the opening track, to Green’s proclamation of dislike for some DCI Clarke on the title track, it seems as though Green is more than happy to let some attempts at humor overawe his gritty and edgy lyrics and disappointingly, for a man who clearly has an eventful private life, this album fails to match up to the hype of the press stories that surround him.

Professor Green may need to go back to the drawing board, throw away this chart chasing sound and go back to his roots for any future releases as the sound of Growing Up In Public is not one that will stand the test of time. It will inevitably chart well, as the core Pro Green fans will be out in force to purchase it, but don’t let the sales figures deceive you as the hugely capable MOBO award winning artist is sadly not at his best.

Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno

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Matt Tarr

Urban Music Editor

With grime and hip hop being major influences on him growing up in South East London, Matt's passion is urban music but over the years he has gathered a hugely diverse taste, ranging from Wiley to The Smiths by way of Machine Head, that has made him a very open minded individual.