Plan B - The Defemation of Strickland Banks

I first heard Plan B's The Defamation of Strickland Banks five months ago on a Virgin Atlantic flight, and have been telling people about it ever since. The album, which debuted atop the U.K. charts last April, isn't available in the U.S. so I've been reluctant to write about it in light of ITV 's policy of only discussing things that can be purchased from anywhere. I also couldn't get any tracks or good videos to embed in a blog post.

I decided to write this now because Atlantic Records has announced that it will release the album in the U.S. in March 2011 and has made some tracks available for sampling on its Soundcloud. So I can at least tell you when the album will be available in the U.S. and I have some tracks that I can post. Mostly, I'm just tired of telling people about this album one at a time.

First, a little background on Plan B for the unfamiliar: Until this latest album, he was often described as the U.K.'s Eminem. He was an angry white rapper who mostly rapped about his troubled upbringing and surroundings. Tracks on his 2006 debut, Who Needs Action When You Got Words, have titles like "Mama (Loves a Crackhead)" and "Dead and Buried." The Eminem comparisons ended with this album. Smokey Robinson has been mentioned more recently.

The Defamation of Strickland Banks is a concept album about a soul singer named Strickland Banks who is wrongfully incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit (spoiler alert: Strickland ends up in a Bryant/Roethlisberger situation). To tell that story, Plan B traded rapping for singing over Mark Ronsonesque Motown tracks. Though the Motown revival genre has been decreasingly remarkable since Amy Whinehouse's Back to Black, it seems re-energized here and comes off as neither trite nor mundane. Plus it fits the concept. Certain sounds are just better for telling certain stories, and Motown is the best sound for telling this one.

Every song on the album tells a part of the story through Strickland's eyes. Four singles have been given the video treatment already, and you should watch all the videos to fully appreciate the music and the concept.

"Love Goes Down" is the first song on the album, but does not have a video yet. In it, Strickland promises his girlfriend that he'll be a better man just before his life falls apart. According to Plan B's Facebook page, a video for "Love Goes Down" is in the works.



"Stay Too Long" and its video tell the story of the night of Strickland's alleged crime.


In "She Said" and its video, Strickland tells his side of the story to the jury.


"The Recluse" and its video find Strickland wasting away in prison and losing it.


"Prayin'" and its video are about a crisis Strickland faces in prison after shanking someone. Logically, the video includes a few all-male dance sequences.