#guvna

Guvna B - Battle

‘Hands Are Made For Working’ marked a shift in gear fro Guvna B. It was an album born out of hardship and heartbreak, but it was the Guvna’s best album to date by a country mile. It reminded me of Romans 5: 

3 ...but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

The perseverance Guvna B has shown with his music during the tough days has taken him to a new level artistically and lyrically. This is on full display in Battle. 

Battle goes hard with the beat, with a distinctively London flavour to the sound. The bass line rolls over the beat tipping it’s hat to the UK Garage roots of the track. Wookie’s ‘Battle’ from 2000 is the sample which the track is built around. 

If this is an indication of what the next album from Guvna B is going to sound like, we’re looking forward to it! 

Check out these lovely links:

www.facebook.com/guvnab

www.twitter.com/guvnab

www.youtube.com/guvnamusic

Guvna B came on as a guest in Andy Mineo’s set at BCDO this year to perform their collab Keeping It Movin’... which has done crazy numbers (over 1M streams on Spotify in just 2 weeks!)

Let’s hope we get more of these collabs between artists from both sides of the pond, it’s been a while. 

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Facebook.com/AndyMineo

Twitter/AndyMineo

Instagram/AndyMineo

Upon hearing Guvna B’s new album ‘Hands Are Made for Working’, my initial thought was ‘this just doesn’t sound like him’, but not in a way that disappointed me, rather I was captivated by the fresh sound of his recent artistry. Perhaps this was due to the vast diversity of talent that he worked with to cultivate the album such as Melvillous, Martin Smith and Samm Henshaw that give it unique sound in comparison to his previous work; or maybe it was due to the recent loss of his father that released a more mature sound that would resonate with his fans on a deeper level.

Coming from a background as a dancer, Guvna B was often one my go-to for a grime/urban Christian alternatives to get me moving and his songs always had me smiling. Though this album initiated a different response. It wasn’t that this songs didn’t get me moving or ‘bopping’, it’s more that I don’t think that’s the tone he was going for, and that’s okay, because I found myself paying close attention to issues that arose in his tracks where maybe I haven’t before.

Guvna B focuses this album a lot on addressing real life deep issues, both personally with the loss of his father, where he uses tracks such as ‘Carry On’ and ‘Heart of a King’ to recall his experience of the death of his father and some of the memories they had shared together. And societal problems like systematic racism and gang culture in his area. It’s as though Guvna wanted to use this album to give a voice to the public affairs that are so rife in our generation at this time. Which I love. Not only has he paid an amazing tribute to his late dad but he has shone a spotlight over the social dilemma’s people groups are facing day in and day out.

Yet in all of this, even when Guvna B expresses a sense of having his world shaken, he doesn’t lose his fervour to continue to worship and exalt God through tracks such as ‘Cast Your Cares’, ‘All I Ever Wanted’ and his remake of ‘King of my Heart’. It’s been awesome to see Guvna go from the fresh on the scene 18 year old who produced ‘Narrow Road’ Album with tracks such as ‘Kingdom Skank’ to the well-established artist we see today. To produce an album of this calibre after the year he had, I applaud you Guvna!

 My Top 3 Tracks

Cast Your Cares

King of My Heart

Summer in the Streets

Bonus track ‘Dun All the Hype’

Check out the whole album yourself on Spotify... then go and buy it on iTunes or physical CD! 

Check out these lovely links:

www.facebook.com/guvnab

www.twitter.com/guvnab

www.youtube.com/guvnamusic

It was great to hear Guvna B perform the tracks from his brand new album Hands Are Made For Working. The tracks came over brilliantly live and I’ve had the album on repeat since the weekend! 

Guvna B always bring plenty of energy to his performances and this was no different! 

Martin Smith joined Guvna B on stage for their brand new track “All I Ever Wanted”... a haunting classic. You can’t listen to this track without having Smith’s vocals run through your head for the rest of the day. 

It was a memorable set, all the camera were out for it! 

If you book your tickets for BCDO before the end of June 2018 you’ll be able to take advantage of their super early-bird ticket rates.