Plan B: 'I Haven't Turned My Back On Hip-Hop Fans'

Plan B says he hasn't turned his back on hip-hop, despite adopting a new soul-inspired sound on his new album.

'The Defamation Of Strictland Banks', released next month, sees the rapper turn singer on all but three songs.

However, in an exclusive interview with Gigwise, Plan B insisted that he still loved hip-hop and planned to release an accompanying rap album later this year.

“I’m aware that there are fans out there that might feel alienated by this but I feel like I cater for them,” he told Gigwise.

“I feel like I have catered for them, they just don’t know it yet.”

He added: “I don’t want them to feel like I’ve forgotten about them - not at all - but they got to remember that I’m a human being and I’m an artist and I need to do what makes me feel happy.”

‘The Defamation Of Strictland Banks’ follows the fictional story of a sharp-suited British soul singer who loses everything when he ends up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
 
Plan B said the accompanying rap album, entitled 'The Ballad Of Belmarsh', “explains all the gaps” in Strictland's story.

The album is due to be released via the rapper's own independent record label Pet Cemetery.

You can read Gigwise’s full interview with Plan B, in which his discusses the album, films and recent anger management therapy, here.