Previously signed to
Mike Skinner's The Beats label, Hackney rapper
Professor Green doesn't appear to have learned from his former boss' mistakes, judging by his second album
At Your Inconvenience. Largely eschewing the cheeky self-deprecation that made his debut,
Alive Till I'm Dead, such an enjoyable affair, in favor of angst-ridden confessionals and diatribes against the pressures of fame, many of its 15 tracks adhere to the "woe is me" approach that plagued
the Streets' hugely disappointing
The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living. Indeed,
Green seems to have forgotten the golden rule that you don't whine about your success, as he groans "sick of hearing how happy I should be/I just don't know how to be," on the melancholic acoustics of "Today I Cried," rants about his hectic promotional schedule on the dramatic, piano-led hip-hop of "Doll," and moans about how the last year has affected his state of mind on the grungy,
Pixies-sampling "Spinning Out." However, as evident on the wildly misogynistic closer "Into the Ground" and the crude G-Funk of the title track, both of which recall
Eminem at his most unlikable, it's perhaps a blessing in disguise that
Green's "humor" is kept to a bare minimum. There are times when he proves he is certainly capable of approaching more serious subject matter without descending into self-pity. "Astronaut" recounts the true story of a friend he lost to a heroin addiction against a backdrop of mournful piano hooks and handclap rhythms; U.K. chart-topper "Read All About It," an epic hip-pop ballad which deals with the issue of his father's suicide, is lent an extra air of poignancy thanks to
Emeli Sandé's stunning, soulful guest vocals, while there are shades of
Ian Brown's majestic "F.E.A.R." on the clattering beats and layers of sweepings strings in the introspective "Forever Falling." But anyone looking for pure party anthems like "Need You Tonight" will be left disappointed, with only the old-school drum'n'bass of "Trouble," the trancy electro-clash of "Remedy," and the obligatory dubstep number, "How Many Moons," lightening the mood. While it's only natural that
Green would want to move on from the cartoonish elements of his debut,
At Your Inconvenience sometimes travels a little too far in the other direction, but when he manages to meet somewhere in the middle, there are very few British MCs who do it better. ~ Jon O'Brien