Bud, Sweat & Beers
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at 8:11PM 
Although I’ve never been a massive fan of Grime on the whole; Devlin is an artist that I’ve got a lot of respect for and someone who’s music that I can’t always relate to, but have always been able understand and appreciate. I have followed his career closely ever since hearing The Art of Rolling 2 years ago and the progression he has made since that mixtape is quite incredible. Some people find his music hard to listen to, but I find his lyrical prowess on the mic enchanting and I love the fact that he tackles real life situations, which most MC’s would never dare approach. I had high hopes for the album after hearing the 3 singles; however it has exceeded all my expectations, and more.
After meeting him on the Example tour earlier this month, I now understand everything that he is about and I am so pleased that he has been able to create and release the debut album that he has always wanted to. In Yesterdays News he states that he has ‘a talent that these other rappers haven’t’ - that is quite a bold statement, but after hearing the album 5 times now, I cannot disagree. The uniqueness of his flow, concepts, lyrics and choice of beats make Bud, Sweat & Beers one of the enjoyable UK albums of 2010 and I can guarantee that it will be completely different to anything you’ve ever heard. In a time where lyrics don’t seem to be all that important to most people; Dev has stayed true to himself and given us the album that we were all hoping for.
The most commercially friendly tracks are those that have already been released along with Dreamer, which features the ever brilliant Emeli Sande. Other than that, the rest of the album is what most would call, ‘stereotypical Devlin’. It’s always hard for me to pick my favourite track from albums as strong as this; however 1989, Let It Go, Yesterday’s News and of course Runaway are the ones that I have been listening to most. The whole album is full of pure quality though. During our conversation he said that Ed Sheeran has rejuvenated his writing whilst they’ve been touring together, which genuinely excites me for what’s to come next, because this has blown me away.
Overall, it’s a great album and a piece of work that Dev should be really proud of. Hopefully this will end up being a mere stepping stone in what should become a long and illustrious career for one of my favourite MC’s. You can get Runaway on iTunes now and the album is available for pre-order too. All the necessary links are below and you can also hear, Let It Go, which is the track featuring and produced by Labrinth. All the hard work is finally paying off.