The Defamation of Strickland Banks

The Defamation of Strickland Banks is the second studio album from British rapper Plan B which was released on 12 April 2010. The album is a departure from the sound heard on Plan B’s debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, providing a showcase for the rapper’s singing. Lyrically the album’s songs tell the fictitious tale of one Strickland Banks, a sharp-suited British soul singer who finds fame with bitter-sweet love songs like the album’s opener “Love Goes Down”, only to have it slip through his fingers when sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

The album tells the story from the first-hand perspective of Strickland Banks, a fictional character played by Plan B. The album’s opening tracks, “Love Goes Down” and “Writing’s On The Wall”, are love songs sung by Strickland Banks at a concert. “Stay Too Long” follows him and his entourage as they celebrate the success of his concert with a night out which culminates in him having a one night stand with a woman. In “She Said” we learn that this woman is obsessed with his music and believes herself to be in love with him. He rejects her so she alleges that he raped her. The subsequent trial results in his incarceration, and in “Welcome To Hell” he is sent to prison, and much of the rest of the album is about his experience inside. Throughout the course of the songs “Hard Times” and “The Recluse” we see Strickland get more isolated and insecure throughout as he struggles to cope with prison life.