Bad Belly – Fanfiction feat. Feral Serge [Video]

Mark L aka Badbelly is described on his Soundcloud page as being from Southampton / Cwmbran suggesting, at some point, he left the greenery of the Welsh Valleys and headed for the blue sea of the Solent. Now he has teamed up with rapper Feral Serge on the track Fanfiction. The backing track is relatively sparse; long synth tones, light electric piano chords and a beat that comes and goes. Against this soundscape Feral Serge sets out a fairly frank picture for the song’s subject. Harsh realism intelligently and imaginatively organised into different lengths of phrases and couplets that keep a rhythmic flow going throughout. Elements familiar to Grime but this is more of a Hip Hop tune.

Badbelly has previously been on the radar of our own Tom Robinson and featured on BBC Radio 6 Music. His timeline says he spent about 8 years “loving life” before 2020 saw him bring the music and ideas to life. If Fanfiction is any indication, the notion that he will continue to bring the noise is most welcome. A voice of reason amid the summer madness maybe.