BBC Radio 1Xtra: 'Victoria Beckham's hip hop album wouldn't even have a sniff'

Victoria Beckham's hip hop album "wouldn't even have a sniff" if released today, according to the man responsible for making and breaking artists on BBC Radio 1Xtra.

The 2003 album Come Together has never been released but demo tracks have now leaked online.

The reaction hasn't been entirely positive.

So Newsbeat asked Austin Daboh - music manager at 1Xtra - to have a listen and give his expert reaction.

In 2003, there was a lot of competition.

"You had artists like 50 Cent, Eminem, Jay Z, Joe Budden, that were all coming with big smashes," says Austin.

With that in mind, we passed him the headphones and gave him a burst of Victoria's track DAT simple.

"The production sounds as if it hasn't been mixed down with the vocals," says Austin.

"In the UK you had artists like Estelle, Lisa Mafia and Fallacy on a more street tip so these particular records don't quite match the levels that were being set in 2003."

But as he points out: "They sound like demos, so sometimes you can't form a full opinion on the record because it's not been fully finished and the vocals sound as if they haven't quite been mastered.

Does that mean the final versions could've been classics?

"With the explosion of urban music this year in the UK it [her tracks] wouldn't even have a sniff," says Austin.

The songs were written with American music producer Damon Dash who co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay Z.

And Austin does give Dash and Victoria credit for not releasing the album.

"They tried it. Credit to them for realising it wasn't quite the right move at that particular moment in time. Quite often, people do release music that's substandard because they're sort of under pressure to release for an audience.

"I've got to give them props for not releasing it," says Austin.

Have a listen to So Cold here:, external

And if you like what you hear, there are 17 demos floating around. The tracks appeared online after a demo disc meant for her album Come Together, was sold on eBay.

One song written at the time was released by Victoria. Let Your Head Go peaked at number three in the UK.

Given Victoria is now a hugely successful fashion designer, it's unlikely she'll need to dust off these demos. But just in case she's tempted...

But surely this is an offer she can't refuse., external

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