not tonight

having caught an earful of the new Professor Green track in the week i was kind of shocked.

i was at the swimming pool, they were playing radio 1, and then i hear INXS start.

my first thought that they would be playing 'Need You Tonight' soon faded as i realised it must just be a new track sampling the original as i waited for a dodgy dance beat to kick over the top, it didn't realy happen, but the voice that started rapping was unmistakably that of former Beats artist, Professer Green.

Now, to be honest, i have a lot of time for Pro Green, he has an amazing talent and having gleamed his star rising through association with Mike Skinner and caught him live at Camden Crawl afew years ago he seems completely geniune, just a glimpse at his myspace blogs confirms that, but he is still looking for that breakthrough.

last year saw him release 'Hard Night Out', an edgy rock-rap cross-over track, certainly nothing new there but it was a departure from his usual Streets-esque hip-hop beats and i was unsure at first but it grew on me completely but obviously a different tack was needed.

and since he has been recording and touring with Lily Allen and clearly releasing music that is slightly more radio friendly, now i'll give him the benefit of the doubt, the new single feels like a slight cop out to me but i'm still hoping Pro Green can stay true to his roots and make himself a commercial success without 'selling out'.

it's easy to hate on successful artists, but i know Pro Green is capable of much better than this.