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Microscope by Riz MC

Riz MC

Microscope

Release Date: Jun 19, 2012

Genre(s): Rap, Pop/Rock

Record label: Tru Thoughts

64

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Album Review: Microscope by Riz MC

Fairly Good, Based on 4 Critics

PopMatters - 70
Based on rating 7/10

So what we’ve got here is 10 noisy Brit-rap songs, four electro-experimental “skits”, and eight remixes, all of which somehow yields four versions of “All of You”, Riz MC’s worst song and maybe not coincidentally his sex song. Not that sex raps are necessarily bad—Florida’s Trina and White Dawg have clearly proven as much. But when Riz turns to love, he sounds like he’s reading from the Harlequin Historical series.

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New Musical Express (NME) - 60
Based on rating 3/5

You’ll know Riz Ahmed as one of a bunch of hapless terrorists in Four Lions, and you’ll soon know him as the lead in Plan B’s film iLL Manors. But unlike fellow thespians who’ve embarrassed themselves by picking up the microphone (Depp, Crowe, Hasselhoff), Ahmed as Riz MC has stepped up to the plate as something of a hard hitter. Thought-provoking social topics pepper ‘MICroscope’, perhaps unsurprisingly from an Oxford University PPE graduate.

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The Observer (UK) - 60
Based on rating 3/5

Overlooked when it came out early last year, this accomplished debut by Riz Ahmed is being rereleased as a deluxe package, with added remixes, by his new label Tru Thoughts. Though better known as a film actor – he recently starred in Trishna and ill Manors – Ahmed radiates ambition and promise as an MC. No question his lyrics are smart – spiked with sardonic humour on All in the Ghetto; nuanced and refreshingly honest when he tackles Islamophobia on Sour Times – but they can sound studied, valuing intricacy over flow.

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BBC Music
Opinion: Very Good

The equivalent of setting up a city-sized PA system and cranking it to maximum. Adam Kennedy 2012 Given hip hop's topicality moves with such velocity that references in last week's hot record are often superseded come the following Monday, reissuing a record that originally saw the light of day over 12 months previously appears a tad futile. Quite a bit, however, has passed since the original release of London rhymer Riz MC's MICroscope.

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