Album Review: Stefflon Don, Secure

London grime artist Stefflon Don’s follow-up to her 2016 Hurtin’ Me EP is yet another edgy, eclectic collection. Staggeringly, even without a full-length album to her name, The Don has won a MOBO Award for Best Female Album – testament to her status as one of the pre-eminent contemporary urban artists.

Secure features a variety of musical styles, including dancehall, techno, R&B and hip-hop, all stamped with Stefflon Don’s superb vocal skills and impeccable flow. Attitude and bravado drip from the hardcore hip-hop tracks, while tropical rhythms abound on the more laidback tunes, such as single ‘Pretty Girl’. It is not all top grade: while the single basks in a lazy, sun-kissed Caribbean glow, it lacks the power and intensity of ‘Lil Bitch (Intro)’ or ‘Jellio’, both brilliantly intense efforts. Similarly excellent is ‘Senseless’, a mid-tempo pop/hip-hop mash-up with pulsating synths.

Sonically, the mixtape tends to repeat itself occasionally, with production that relies heavily on the same kind of electro flourishes, digitised beats and tropical tones. Still, when Stefflon Don has the right musical backdrop, she unleashes her MC-ing skills to devastating effect. Indeed, the accomplished rhyming and sharp lyrics on display here should win plenty of new converts to her cause. Righteous.

Out Now

7/10