On his debut album, Collie (aka Adrian Collins) does his level best to make the concept of Irish rap credible.
It’s a style that finds it hard to shake off an irritating whiff of naff novelty, but he does a decent job of avoiding one obvious pitfall, never losing his distinctive voice in an attempt to ape his American counterparts.
Comparisons will doubtless be drawn with Mike Skinner, as both he and Collie share a flair for observational humour, and possess vocal styles and accents that may initially seem unorthodox within their musical spheres. As with The Streets, it may take a few spins to get used to Collins’ stylistic quirks, but stick with it, and you could be rewarded.
Collins sensibly avoids the self-righteous preaching of indie rap’s backpacker set, instead concentrating on cramming as much gleefully sick humour into each track as possible. At his best, he comes across like a Celtic Eminem or, to draw a less obvious comparison, a Dublin counterpart to Houston’s legendarily depraved Bushwick Bill.
Collie thrives on unpleasant subject matter: be it the amusingly bleary-eyed tale of hedonistic excess ‘No Drugs’, or the rib-ticklingly offensive misogynist rant ‘Tell Me’. He’s at his best when he gets catty on single ‘Some Sham’, dissing everyone from Ronan Keating to his foes on the Dublin rap scene.
Collins' voice still lacks range; he delivers every rhyme in the same self-consciously quirky tone of voice, and the beats on ‘Is Ainm Dom’ are frequently laboured and amateurish. But, there is plenty of promise here and, with the right producer, he may one day be something special.