Album: Professor Green, Alive Till I'm Dead (Virgin)

Once best known for his performances at hip-hop duels, the Hackney rapper Professor Green has made the jump to chart success in the tried and tested manner perfected by Sean Combs, by borrowing pop hits wholesale as his backing tracks.

INXS's "Need You Tonight" provided the setting for his hopeful attempt to lure back a girlfriend, while "Just Be Good to Green" (with vocals by Lily Allen) adapts the old SOS Band/Beats International groove for another bout of bad-boy pleading. The Prof's a nimble chatter, but there's a tiredness to much of his subject-matter – all that stuff about how terrible life is in London, what a raw deal he's had, his romantic tribulations, etc. But you've got to admire the cheek of someone who compares himself to George Best, "but with a lot more sex". Really?

DOWNLOAD THIS I Need You Tonight; Just Be Good to Green; Oh My God