Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Roots Manuva

Too Cold

Label: Big Dada Release Date: 21/03/2005

8026
Matthewjbutler by Matthew Butler March 31st, 2005

Perhaps sick of waiting around for Thom Yorke** to lay down some lyrical flows, Roots Manuva has created a hip-hop update of ‘Creep’_ for his latest single. Through an infectious mixture of paranoia and self-doubt he purrs: “UK rhyme saviour, no never quite. That was just a media totality of hype”.

Hype maybe, but this latest cut from the excellent ‘Awfully Deep’ shows why the man is worshipped by a great number of people. The imaginative production’s splash of strings and deeper-than-a-coal-mine bass is a thing of beauty itself, and when blessed with Mr Manuva’s languid drawl it becomes something very special indeed.

However it is the playful use of language which marks Roots Manuva out from his bling-bling and ching-ching obsessed contemporaries. How many other MCs are talking about financial investments and concluding that: “Respect for my money means I feed my tummy”? Not enough is the answer. The Go! Team mix is also well worth catching which adds a banjo sound whilst inexplicably managing to retain a cool swagger.

Roots Manuva gets the criticism in on himself first here and through doubting his own genius, only serves to confirm it for the rest of us. Unfortunately an urban take on ‘Paranoid Android’_ is yet to be announced…

  • 7
    Matthew Butler's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing



Left-arrow

Arcade Fire

Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)

Mobback
8027
8025

The Hair

Haircuts

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025

  • 106149
  • news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145

    news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143
  • news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141

    news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139
  • Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138

    Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137
  • Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
MORE


    Interview


    "I wouldn't want to go on tour just playing old...

  • 95814
  • In Depth


    Fade to black: DiS meets The Horrors

  • 48012

    news


    Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025

  • 106149
  • feature


    No Surprises? 15 Classic Albums of 15 Years Ago

  • 82815

    Playlist


    Our Favourite Tracks of Q1 2015

  • 99412
  • feature


    Yeah Yeah Yeahs answer your questions

  • 25930

    Albums of the Year


    Drowned in Sound's 16 Favourite Albums of 2016

  • 104334
  • feature


    DiS questions Björk about Volta and beyond

  • 95741
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND