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Hoodies All Summer is the sixth studio album by British rapper Kano. The album was released on 30 August 2019 by Parlophone Records and Bigger Picture Music. It follows the album Made in the Manor, released in 2016. It includes guest appearances from Ghetts, D Double E, Popcaan, Kojo Funds and Lil Silva, with production handled by Blue May and Jodi Milliner.
Promotion
The album was announced on 19 July 2019, alongside its cover art and track listing. Two singles were released on the same day: "Trouble" and "Class of Deja" featuring D Double E and Ghetts.
Hoodies All Summer was met with critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 84, indicating "universal acclaim", based on six reviews.
Kitty Empire of The Guardian stressed the album's "clarion-clear narratives about knife crime and the importance of good times", adding that these topics are "delivered not just with anger and pathos, but humour." William Rosebury of The Line of Best Fit concluded that Hoodies All Summer is "an exceptional achievement, proving once again that Kano is one of the UK’s most versatile, thoughtful and talented voices", while complimenting the stripped-back production that "consistently ensures that Kano’s voice is always front and centre."
User Album Review
Anyone doubting grime’s assurance as an art form needs to watch the engrossing short film that accompanies two tracks from Kano’s comeback album, three years on from his Mercury-nominated, Mobo-winning Made in the Manor. Trouble is a deceptively nostalgic tune about living in an everyday war zone that samples the late campaigner Darcus Howe, while Class of Deja finds Kano going head-to-head with veteran MCs D Double E and Ghetts in a furious old-skool back-and-forth that is testament to how thrilling a lyricist this 34-year-old can still be.
You might argue that grime’s tinny immediacy is blunted by maturity and high production values, but Kano’s state-of-the-nation address is both lush and desolate. That such a subtle operator should occasionally reach for the pianos during emotional interludes is slightly regrettable. But overall this excellent album’s clarion-clear narratives about knife crime and the importance of good times – exemplified on Can’t Hold We Down – are delivered not just with anger and pathos, but humour. SYM is a killer closer that finds a gospel choir intoning “Suck your mum” as Kano tenderly croons “Suck your mother if you think these niggas love these cuffs and riots.”
SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/01/kano-hoodies-all-summer-review-trouble
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