Thursday, July 8, 2010 11:13am ET by  

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Plan B to release own hip-hop LP

Plan B is set to release his new album himself after his record label rejected it.

After this year's concept soul album 'The Defamation Of Strickland Banks', which sold over 500,000 copies, the record company were reluctant to see him return to the genre he started out in, as they didn't believe his hip-hop would receive radio play, or know how to market it."

Plan B said, "This is the compromise – I take that hip-hop record, I put it out on my own label and you own none of it. I'll promote it off the back of my soul record and that's what I'm doing."

The rapper added, "I know 'The Ballad Of Belmarsh' is not going to work commercially, I know radio ain't going to play it but I'm still going to put it out there because I love it. It's a piece of art. It's probably going to sell about 100,000 copies – no more. But I'm cool with that."

The album, entitled 'The Ballad Of Belmarsh', is a hip-hop "version of events" depicting the story of Plan B's alter ego Strickland Banks.