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Ghetts review – a founding father of grime commands the stage

The British rapper showcases his fourth album with a bravura display of old-school brio and and late-career earnestness

The 39-year-old Justin Clarke has had an arduous journey to get to this point, but his overdue recognition from the music industry – not least a string of rave reviews and a Mercury nomination for 2021’s Conflict of Interest – makes him the perfect embodiment of grime’s own trajectory. Described by its chief executive as “ the world’s largest, most advanced atrium of content ”, the Outernet might be – and there’s a high bar to clear here – the ugliest building in London, featuring floor-to-ceiling digital screens and clad in gold; it is like a spaceship beamed in from a dystopian near future where AI has banished taste. His late-career success is all the more satisfying given the brief but unconsummated flirtations the industry had with figures such as Ghetts initially – there was a Mike Skinner remix tagalong in 2004, several collaborations with his longtime friend Kano and even a single with TheX Factor’s Cher Lloyd in 2011; but he’s got this far without ever having a big radio or chart hit.

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