People Just Do Nothing is a mockumentary BBC TV series, now ended, about fictional Brentford pirate radio crew Kurupt FM. It’s also a comedy based entirely on the Dunning-Kruger Effect, in that the humour derives from the worldview of all the key characters – tawdry, hopeless garage MC/DJ chancers – being confidently blinkered to the point of absurdity, while all else points to their utter uselessness. The twist is that Kurupt FM’s debut album is often musically sprightly and enjoyable.
Since the series ended in 2018, Kurupt FM have made major festival appearances, and a feature film has just arrived. The intriguing aspect is that their success isn’t just about satire and laughs; it’s built as much on nostalgia for that Millennial south London good time music, garage, much like the resurrected career of Craig David (whose distinctive vocals appear of the skippy pop R&B of “Summertime”). A comedically machismo blend of N-Dubz vibes, 2-step beats, and early grime mouthiness spices things, and a host of “proper” contemporary producers – Chase & Status, DJ Zinc, FRED, Rude Kids, among many others – add a pepped sonic edge to proceedings.
There are occasional laughs, notably at the end, when they try and leave (and fail to do so) eight minutes' silence before Kurupt FM manager Chabuddy G’s clearly unwanted bonus track, a Mediterranean-tinted love song to his venal wife “Aldona”. Mostly, however, the real fun is in bangers such as the preposterous speed-rapped junglist “Original Rudeboyz”, the hardcore breaks’n’horns of “Kuruptfminit”, and the series’ big number, “Heart Monitor Riddim”, given a boost by grime MCs Blacks, P Money and Footsie.
Centre-stage on the mic is the irrepressibly arrogant MC Grindah, with his loyal sideman Beats offering up an ode to his hero’s skills on “Letter to Grindah”. Stoner Steves is mainly there for the between-song skits, which he rules, while taciturn Decoy pops up to reprimand Grindah – “You’re not Jamaican, mate” – for the enjoyable hokum of the dancehall cut “Raggarap”. It doesn’t all work and some of the skits are tired but, overall, the combination of spliffed-up, in-scene gag-lines and well-pitched musical snap entertains and could even hold a dancefloor.
Below: watch the video for "Dreaming" by Kurupt FM
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