VV BROWN
AM I BRITISH YET?
YOY
★★★★
“They don’t call,” VV Brown preaches as her fifth album gets underway with Break Of The Night’s thunderous drums, “Only when they need me.” It’s the kind of loaded line – we all know who “they” are – that, like the album title itself, characterises this racially charged, fiercely proud examination of Black British culture, one Brown dedicates to “the underdogs” on Marginalised. First and foremost, however, it’s a celebration – “This melanin is magical”, she affirms on Swallowing My Pride – and consequently calls upon multiple styles, some inherited from those who came before. There’s heavy dub on Just Be’s appreciation for the Windrush generation, the title itself a wink towards The SOS Band: cheerful reggae underpinning Let Us Remember By’s bitter, poetic references to genocide: and it’s impossible not to hear Roots Manuva’s Witness in Twisted’s stuttering rhythm.