Run The Road 2

In March 2005 Run The Road, the world's first catalogue of grime's seminal recordings and it's most gifted exponents, was released to much critical acclaim. A musical documentary of the most significant UK movement to have emerged since drum & bass, it bought new streets soundscapes to the forefront. After much anticipation, Run The Road 2 boasting 15 new tracks is ready to roll.

Championed as the new punk, grime continued to expand it's sonic perimeters in a short space of time. What the scene presents today is an even greater sound spectrum, indulging influences and skill from much further afield making It more about a unifying culture.

Producers are no longer heavily associated with Playstation beats, nor sounds of a particularly aggressive nature or rigid structure. Similarly, gone are the days where MC's were simply laying down rave lyrics. With the new school of MCing, a far greater emphasis is put on flow, subject matter and intelligent word play - there's no room for chancers anymore. As a result an even deeper pool of talent has surfaced. Run The Road 2 presents this seismic new chapter with a collection of exclusive and never- heard before tracks that represent all sides of the expanding scene.

Listening to Kano and Low Deep's 'Get Set', an orchestra could been hi-jacked to make this epic opening track. From the softer palette of Kano to Ghetto's aggressive streak and Doctor's bashment mutterings, the increasingly unique personalities being adopted by lyricists are immediately on show. JME further exemplifies this, poking fun at hard men MC's who boast about carrying weapons and spit weak bars on his exclusive remix of self-produced 2005 anthem 'Serious.'

The soundtrack continues to surprise as new producers like Schu on Big Seac's 'Nah Nah' and Mikey J on 'Mic Check Remix' prove the beats can still be worthy of pulling a hood up and getting an ASBO for moshing.

DaVinChe on the otherhand (who contributes three tracks to this compilation) provides the perfect backdrop for any MC to work with. With Katie Pearl featuring on 'Run The Road' and 'World Is Crazy', it demonstrates why strong vocal hooks are also bringing the ladies running back to grime with open arms.

Mizz Beats, currently the only female outing her productions in the scene provides one of Run The Road 2's future classics. 'Saw It Comin' featuring godfather Wiley, Jammer, Ear, JME and Sier, brings out the deep side to all MC's concerned, catapulting Mizz Beats into the premiership.

To flip the script completely tracks like the Mike Skinner produced 'They Gave An Inch' featuring lyrical delights from Trim (Roll Deep), Teddy Mitchell (Mitchell Brothers) and Wello along with Bear Man's Channel U hit 'Drinking Bear', brings comedy to the fore of the many faces of grime.

To represent all sides of the spectrum, Run The Road 2 has also included more surprising additions such like rapper Klashnekoff. Getting love from grime heads and hip hop fans a like, it would be a disrespect to the art of MCing if he wasn't bought to attention. Likewise Sway has garnered an army of supporters over recent months while Plan B's sensational story telling has caused mass debate and itching for new material while also securing his warm up slots for John Legend, Saul Williams and Willy Mason.

Evidently grime still sounds like itself and nothing else. Run The Road 2 is a new lesson in what's really good on the UK streets. Don't miss out.