aaamusic | On 24, Oct 2011

Mister Who is a man with fingers in many pies, including video animation, illustrated comics – and most charmingly of all – 2 hour workshops geared towards teenagers in the form of an art class and a creative writing class.

 

Here is a person who has seen social injustice, but who is determined to do the right thing. One is to be thankful that the real life Mister Who adopts a rather less vigilante approach than his comic book counterpart. At least I hope that’s the case. Maybe he just doesn’t write about that sort of thing on his website.

 

Get On It features Alax Martin, Craftz and Frosta. It’s a fast-paced Gorrillaz-style shot of hip hop and electronica. There’s an element of humour, with lyrics such as: ‘You be the gin/I’ll be the tonic.’ At least I think it’s supposed to be humourous. There’s a mixture of light and dark, with the plainture refrain, ‘These streets won’t let me go.’ The rapping is reminscent of Dizzee Rascal or Tinie Tempah, walking the fine line between authenticity and popularity.

 

When an artist dabbles in many forms of media, is it necessary to like each form? I found Issue 1 of the comic featuring Mister Who rather formulaic and uninvolving. In contrast the music is much more engaging. I haven’t had the pleasure of taking part in one of his workshops, but my guess is that they would be pretty cool too.

 

Stuart Moses