2009 Catch-up - Jamie T time

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GOBBY rapper and songwriter Jamie T is fast becoming pop royalty with a string of catchy, original singles in 2009, and with a previous Album Of The Year under his belt he surely too has a chance of being crowned again this year.
But however great Kings And Queens is, it never quite reaches the heights of his 2007 debut Panic Prevention.
Vocally the distinctive T mixes the razor-sharp working class perception of the Arctic Monkeys with the swagger and lazy patter of The Streets, over bedroom-born beats that fuse elements of hip hop, electronica and rock.
And his original sound is as triumphant as ever on tracks like Sticks And Stones and Chaka Demus - the problem is, I suppose, that it was just that little bit more original first time out.