Plan B has been described as the Arctic Monkeys of hip hop (because he plays guitar) and as the cockney Eminem (because he’s white) but both epithets undersell this astonishing talent, a director of aural documentaries that take us on a white-knuckle ride through east London’s grimmer estates, pausing only to show off his blue-eyed soul croon and mordant wit.
After hearing Plan B spit out X-rated rhymes over spartan acoustic guitar accompaniment on his early demos, the worry was that the album proper might submerge that raw anger in slick production. The remarkable ‘Sick 2 Def’ retains its brutal simplicity – a vicious two-chord guitar assault which accompanies a polemic against gangsta braggadocio, complete with a ‘Time’s Arrow’-style account of a murder in reverse – but the other guitar-led demos like ‘Kidz’ and ‘Charmaine’ are, if anything, improved by the introduction of brittle beats and basslines.
Forest Gate’s Eminem has his own Dr Dre in the form of punk-funk producer Paul Epworth, whose masterstroke has been to introduce Plan B to psych-folk collective The Earlies. They were initially drafted in to replicate some of Plan B’s difficult-to-license samples (Dylan, Johnny Cash, Radiohead) but the second half of the album sees them set Plan B’s scabrous rhymes against a gothic cello and piano backing. It gives an intense power to ‘Every Day’ (a bleak conversation with God that recalls Kanye West’s ‘Jesus Walks’) and the epic ‘No More Eating’; it also adds gravitas to ‘I Don’t Hate You’ (which recounts Plan B’s extraordinary relationship with his born-again Christian father) and ‘Tough Love’ (about a westernised Muslim girl murdered in an ‘honour killing’).
Such lyrical density occasionally makes ‘Who Needs Actions…’ as exhausting as a Ken Loach script. But if this is all too raw for Plan B to truly cross over, Mike Skinner style, there is a visceral power that makes this album impossible to ignore. It also makes it the best British debut of the year.
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7 comments
Plan B - Charmaine lyrics
Verse 1
The first day I saw her was at the train station / she was half black half Caucasian / at first yo I thought she was Asian / but as I get a bit closer her origin is blatant / the best of both worlds a caramel complexion / I swear when she smiled I almost got an erection / piercing green eyes that shined like emeralds / once she gave me the wink, could only think with my genitals / she tells me her name as soon as I approach her / its Charmaine, Charmaine De La Rosa / I say is that Spanish she says yeah I say kosher / the whole time imagining what it would be like to dose her / the train pulls up and we get on it together / duration of the journey get to know each other better / we exchange numbers and agree to meet afterwards / she blows me kiss and with that we parted
Chorus
Young girl get out of my mind / my love for u / is way out of line x2
Verse 2
One week and £20 phone credit later / I don’t just want to juice this girl now I want to date her / she’s got a great personality and sense of humour / next time we meet, it just cant come any sooner / we arrange to go out for a drink at a bar / she’s already there when I arrive and she looks the part / even more stunning than I remembered / **** it drop dead gorgeous / her ass is tight and her breasts are bloody enormous / hand in hand we walk over to the doorman he’s got a big shiny head yo he looks like George Forman / he lets her through and asks me for I.D I’m like what the hell you talking bout man I’m 19 / I whip my drivers licence out and he lets me in / then I trip over a step how embarrassing / Charmaine witnesses it all but pretends no to see/ I feel like a fool she just thinks its sweet.
Chorus
Verse 3
The night goes a lot smoother than planned / apart from the little hiccup at the start its all gone grand / when other guys try churps she shows them the hand / turns down every dance saying I’m her man / we get a cab back to my place were we get it on I take off my shirt she strips right down to the thong / I marvel at her body voluptuous curves she’s a real women no doubt about it her / confidence is sky high she’s the one who’s got me on my back, saying baby this is your night / I’m like alright its worth a go I suppose / so we switch roles and she takes full control / she starts slow grinding me softly / whilst kissing yeah she’s doing me properly / that’s when I start thinking man this girls gotta be from out of this world or something because she’s shocking me / I’d never felt like this before this was more than sex / sex is something that you have with sket’s / something the next day you regret / with a girl you wished you’d never met / na ah no way man this had to be love/ I couldn’t believe I was saying it but that’s what it was / like a leaf in the Autumn/ I had fallen/ after that nothing else seemed important.
Chorus
Now its time to hear my predicament my catch 22/ I love this girl but now I have to cut her loose / I was talking to one of my boys the very next day / and I told him all about me and Charmaine / he looks at me in a very strange way and asks me if De La Rosa is her surname/ if she’s mixed race and her eyes are green / I say “yeah” he replies “Blud, that girls 14.
any1 know how 2 listen 2 plan b Charmaine wid a site that ent blocked plz let mi know xx
Plan B is by far one of the best hip hop artists to date, how many artists raps consistently go "i did this and i did that i killed him" Plan B lyrics is about how the world really is not how much rappers sugar coat it
I thin you've only refered to him as eminem because hes a white rapper and that the first thing that comes into your head.his lyrics are alot smarter and individual than eminems, greatly.
Plan B is nothing like Eminem, for a start he plays a guitar on stage! His track Chatelle is so shocking, sounds like a fruity love track and then at the end the final line will stop anybody in their tracks! I missed his Jools Holland performance but have seen him live at Ashton Court, he's incredible.
You complete and utter fool. Plan B is one of the most original and talented musicians around at the moment. His performance on Jools Holland was nothing short of jaw dropping. He's in a completely different ball park to Eminem.
He is not compared to eminem simply because " he's white" . He completly stole eminems style and used it as his own. This is the most unoriginal music ive ever heard. Its stupid that this guy can sell so many records by biting eminems style.