Master Plan

Life is hard inside and Strickland has to rely on his wits – and music – to stay alive. It’s a dispiriting tale. Or it would be… if it were real.

For Strickland Banks is a creation, the alter ego of rapper Plan B, a bombastic hip hop artist from east London, who admits to previously being “an angry little estate kid”.

Confused? Let Plan B, aka Ben Drew, explain: “Strickland is one of the many characters I like to play,” he says.

“He’s a fictional character, and I wanted to get his story out there. I want people to see the album as a film; a film for the blind.”

The result is the Defamation of Strickland Banks – which stylishly and intelligently fuses Stax soul with punchy grime.

For Plan B (“my mates call me ‘B’ because my real name’s Ben), the record is the soundtrack to a film, which – in his head – he has already directed. The next instalment will be the tale of Strickland’s life as a lag – The Ballad of Bellmarsh. “It sees Strickland trading his cigarettes for a shank to protect himself,” he says.

“The most important thing is the concept and the lyrics,” he explains. “And the music comes second to that.”

His smooth Smokey Robinson-style vocals are as different as it is possible to get from the incendiary, violent and profane rap of breakthrough album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words. But for Forest Gate’s finest, it’s a logical progression.

“I’ve been writing soul music from day one,” he says. “For me this is no different, though it is in the public’s perception of me. I know people were expecting a certain thing from Plan B and it’s funny how things turn out.

“But because I’m comfortable with what I’m doing I’m not worried about what they say or think. The most important thing about Plan B, is that I’m a storyteller.

“Yes, I’m an angry white rapper with an attitude, but not just that. This is going to break down barriers – and who knows where I’ll go next.

“I’m certainly not afraid of losing any fans; anyway I’ll bring them back with my next hip hop album!”

The first songs from the album have already been warmly received, and ‘B’ reached a whole new audience when he stepped in for a sore-throated Cheryl Cole and performed single She Said – two warm slices of soul wrapped around a hard-boiled slab of rap – on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross a few weeks ago.

“I like there to be depth in what I do and that’s what there is here,” he says. “You can isolate each song and it stands alone, but they link together with depth.

“Now I want to shoot the film that goes with it. In fact I’ve already written the script.”

So who is the real Ben Drew? Plan B or Strickland Banks?

“I’ve always felt like a social outcast looking in,” he says. “I don’t feel I belong to a culture or country, so I have always looked at what makes me feel good – and that is music. And when I call myself Plan B or Strickland Banks, I become that person.

“A lot of people still think I’m some ignorant little asbo kid off a council estate. I think they’ll be shocked that I can actually sing – and write pretty cool songs.”