Star date: 11th December 2011

TOP SALFORD THEMED PRESENTS
No 2: BRIGGZY – GINGERFICATION ALBUM

Briggzy's Gingerfication, three years in the making, is the Salford album of the year. It contains what has now become the city's unofficial anthem, Home, plus loads of other top tracks that mix hip hop, indie, electro and some heartfelt feelings and fingers to people along the ginger rapper's journey to mic immortality. Er, are you listening Ms Rimmer from Hope High School?

Every kid and adult in Salford should be bought this album for Christmas. End of.

Full album review, interview with Briggzy and download details here…

BRIGGZY – GINGERFICATION

`My teacher Ms Rimmer, I think of every day
She said that I would fail cos I'm a waste of space
In fact most did and no I ain't forgotten…'

Oh yes, never mind a Christmas gift to your kids, mums or mates, Gingerfication is a gift to Salford. 12 tracks that spit, soothe, groove and move. An album that you sling on and it just gets better and better and better with each track…so much that any review has to start almost at the end with Rest of Me – the Salford story writ large, painful, sad, angry and triumphant.

Rest of Me is heart on sleeve, haunting, from the gut, autobiographical rap poetry that every kid (no matter how old now) wishes they could write to the world. And while the world mourns the passing of Shelagh Delaney, here's some Shelagh-esque state of the Salford psyche verse for the 21st Century…

Rest of Me begins with a sniff, and takes a jagged journey though Briggzy's life, from fights and guns and blood at Seaford Road and Charlestown Primary, to friends, family, failure and alienation on the 'Heights and at Hope High School…to salvation through rap and learning at university and the university of life…

I'd go to uni
Study to perfect my life
Cos in the past a lot of people would affect my mind
My teacher Ms Rimmer, I think of every day
She said that I would fail cos I'm a waste of space
In fact most did and no I ain't forgotten

I'm up in heaven now
I'm finally up and out my hell
Cos I will make this music
This is my destiny
You've heard my voice now
You've finally seen the rest of me

For the rest of Rest of Me, you'll have to listen to the whole brilliant soulful track. But first up, how brave of Briggzy to put it all in words?

"In a way" he says "Sometimes I don't like listening back…Do I really want to put all that out there? But when I'm writing I just let it come out. I don't think `I'll write about that, and leave that bit out'"

And secondly, isn't this the rap everyone wants to write – slagging off teachers by name that have messed with your head?

"I actually wrote that track when I was drunk in the studio, it just came out" Briggzy laughs "As soon as we started making the beat, and as soon as I heard the first guitar, I thought `Right, everyone's having it who's ever said anything bad about me, they can have it on this one!' It's good that I can do this now, that I've got a bigger voice than they have, so let them hear it."

Rest of Me is a supreme track, that Briggzy agrees is one of his three favourite on the Gingerfication album. And you don't have to listen too far to hear other ace examples. Anyone who's familiar with local music will know Home, the beautiful unofficial Salford anthem, featuring long term collaborator Samir Harmim…
 
`Take me home, take me home
 To the place where I belong…
 If I ever stray I know my city will come pull me back…'

Home has been around for ages and sits well with the old skool hip hop, rap, electro and indie tracks that surround it. Everything is cut through with fun lyrics about the `ginger revolution' and more introspective thoughts on life, love and ultimate optimism. Briggzy is determined that the album has been made for anyone to listen to, no matter what age…

"Something for everyone on there" he explains "I try to make it so that people from the older generation can listen too instead of going `Turn that racket off!' I play some tracks to my mum and she's goes `Turn it down, it's too loud!', and then I play her some of the slower tracks and she's like `Ooohhh'."

Gingerfication, made by Briggzy with the help of a zillion collaborators - Illatant, Samir Harmim, Shotty Horroh and Hoodman, The Mend, Misfit Music, Raptor, producer Rick Charles and co – is a don't miss album that's deliberately independent and has no big label backing. It's word of mouth and new media only. And it's been three years in the making.

"I'm very pleased with it, I think it's the best work I've done" says Briggzy "If you like a 5ft 3in ginger kid talking about his teachers, buy the album…"

And the great news is that if you are buying the album you just donate what you think it's worth. Anything over a quid is acceptable – a ridiculous Christmas bargain for a priceless product.

Hear a preview of Gingerfication and download it by clicking here.

* And as a bonus Briggzy has uploaded 19 free new tracks under the title Kick A Ginger Vol 1 – click here for free download.

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