Wiki
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Release Date
9 April 2010
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Length
13 tracks
The Defamation of Strickland Banks is the second studio album from British rapper Plan B which was released on 12 April 2010. The album is a departure from the sound heard on Plan B's debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, providing a showcase for the rapper's singing. Lyrically the album's songs tell the fictitious tale of one Strickland Banks, a sharp-suited British soul singer who finds fame with bitter-sweet love songs like the album's opener "Love Goes Down", only to have it slip through his fingers when sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit.
The album tells the story from the first-hand perspective of Strickland Banks, a fictional character played by Plan B. The album's opening tracks, "Love Goes Down" and "Writing's on the Wall", are love songs sung by Strickland Banks at a concert. "Stay Too Long" follows him and his entourage as they celebrate the success of his concert with a night out which culminates in him having a one night stand with a woman. In "She Said" we learn that this woman is obsessed with his music and believes herself to be in love with him. He rejects her so she alleges that he raped her. The subsequent trial results in his incarceration, and in "Welcome to Hell" he is sent to prison, and much of the rest of the album is about his experience inside. Throughout the course of the songs "Hard Times" and "The Recluse" we see Strickland get more isolated and insecure throughout as he struggles to cope with prison life. This results in his abuse at the hands of other prisoners, resulting in him purchasing a shiv on the prison black market throughout the course of "Traded In My Cigarettes". In "Prayin'" he is confronted by another prisoner who attacks him. With the help of another inmate Strickland kills the attacker in self-defence, with the other inmate taking the blame, and is burdened with this guilt during "Darkest Place". The next two tracks, "Free" and "I Know A Song" detail initially his anger, then his acceptance of his life inside prison. The last track, "What You Gonna Do" Strickland is in court again as new evidence has been brought up on his case. The album finishes with the listener not sure of whether he is sent back to prison or released, leaving it open to interpretation.
Upon its release, The Defamation of Strickland Banks received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 16 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". The critics tended to compare this work with Plan B's previous album, Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, from four years earlier. The change from "spectacularly violent soliloquies" on his debut to crooning soul on his second effort caught some reviewers by surprise, though not all unhappily.
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