Audacious yet modest, MC Scroobius Pip has no fear of big topics, from the worship of false pop idols (“Thou Shalt Always Kill”) to the meaning of life (“Waiting for the Beat to Kick In”). Still, he’s rarely preachy — as partner Dan Le Sac crafts simple, punchy electro beats, this practitioner of “angsta rap” delivers his rhymes in an engaging, ordinary-bloke style that takes the piss out of his pretensions. Even the moving “Magician’sAssistant,” an eloquent argument against self-destruction, feels more like a spontaneous spiel than a sermon.
