So in this example the equation looks like:

Lots of swearing + moral outrage = £££.

20-year-old Eamon’s music is being sold as 'ho-wop', his unique blend of hip-hop and doo-wap but this is just falsetto R&B vocals over a slow tempo, barely there set of beats and some vocal harmonies.  All for a reason of course – you’re supposed to listen to the words, the 'fuck this, fuck that' lyrics which fill the single from start to finish. Nothing wrong with a bit of swearing though, once whilst at university one of my housemates counted me saying fuck 23 times in one sentence. 

But back to the review, this is not a competition about who has the more limited vocabulary.  The delivery and lyrics aren’t exactly subtle: "Fuck all those kisses it didn’t mean jack; fuck you, you ho, I don’t want you back" being a typical example but I guess it does make a change to hear a hip-hopper tell a tale of their pain and loss and it is kind of catchy in a I-hate-to-admit-it kind of way.

Catchy or not, it’s just gimmicky in extremis, like Timm Dogg’s ‘Fuck Compton’ from the early 90s.  It was New York’s response to the rise of NWA and west coast gangsta sound.  The irony being Timm’s not on the hip-hop radar anymore – but the man he dissed most virulently, Dr Dre, is responsible for two of the biggest artists in hip-hop today – Eminem and 50 Cent.  And the lesson for Eamon is?  Gimmicks sell your first record but little else.
(2½/5)

Release Date: 12 April 2004