Free Tulisa - The Biography by Chas Newkey-Burden

originally planned to name it Against All Odds , but actually called it Uncle B , in honour of the man who had been pivotal in the band’s early days. Rarely in the modern era are debut albums so long in coming – the band themselves estimate that Uncle B was made over a period of eight years. As Fazer noted, it was almost like a ‘best of’ effort, as every song on the album had already been released via one route or another prior to the album’s release. It entered the UK charts in a high position: No 11. In Ireland it fared less well, only reaching No 36. The first full track on the album is ‘Wouldn’t You’, and opens – after a brief and tame ‘Na Na Nii’ from Dappy – with Tulisa’s soulful lyrics. Nonetheless it is quite a low-key song with which to open an album effectively. Certainly compared to some of the stompers that would appear on future N-Dubz albums this is a tame affair. Within a few lines of ‘Strong Again’, the ante has been upped as Dappy confesses to violence. The music is fiercer as he bemoans getting community service as a result of his misdeeds. Tulisa takes over in the chorus, and then handles the next verse. Opening a theme that would become a regular concern for the band, Tulisa reminds listeners that life is short. A similar sentiment appears in ‘Don’t Get Nine’.
    ‘I Swear’ blends Tulisa’s singing and Dappy’s intense raps with an upbeat hip-hop/grime track. She mourns having lied and delivers a convincing tone of regret. The lie had involved cheating by the girl in the song. Typically for the land of N-Dubz, she is caught out after her man spots an unknown pair of Nike trainers and then seeing her kissing another man. In ‘Ouch’, the issue of infidelity is tackled again but this time it is the man cheating. Tulisa’s high vocals are impressive. The backing track includes piano and violin. ‘It’s all about a whole debate between a woman and man after finding out the man’s cheated,’ she said. ‘It’s just a whole storyline, the whole aftermath of it. The video’s got a whole storyline too that people can relate to.’ There are also strings at the start of ‘Love For My Slum’. Other notable tracks on the album include ‘Feva Las Vegas’. Tulisa complains in it that success can provoke jealousy, even among friends. Was this a reflection of issues she had faced? In ‘Sex’, Dappy spares no blushes or details. Then comes ‘Secrets’, a tamer affair set to an acoustic guitar. ‘Dappy, turn my mike up,’ requests Tulisa before revealing that in the song she is going to reveal a thing or two about herself. Dappy then joins the vocals to reassure her that she is not alone.
    ‘Papa Can You Hear Me’ is, of course, the band’s tribute to Uncle B. Very emotional it is, too. David Balls was – as he acknowledged – rather harsh in his assessment of the song on the website Digital Spy. ‘The mix of uber-serious rapping and abrasive beats is fundamentally awkward, while their lyrics are as crass as they are heartfelt. By showing their softer side, the Camden collective are probably hoping to win some new fans, but they should probably stick to making hip-hop bangers in the futureside,’ he wrote. It is hard to agree: this song quickly became and remains a central part of the N-Dubz musical canon. Dappy’s tribute to his late father might not be as gentle as some musical tributes are but in its own, rough-around -the-edges way, it is a tearjerker and a heartstring puller. The album closes with ‘Outro’.
    Due in part to the somewhat obscure label it was released by, and the fact it was a debut, the album was not reviewed widely in the mainstream media. Describing the album as being made by ‘the sort of young people who wake Daily Mail readers up in a sweat,’ a reviewer on the In The News website described Tulisa as the band’s ‘chief warbler’ and complimented her on her ‘impressive chest’. He concluded that the band should not be