Babylon Dead – “Death Upon Dem”

In a world that took a serious turn for the worst, hip-hop once again has to be that messenger with the blunt truth to tell it like it is. The UK hip-hop duo Babylon Dead, formed of the Bristol MC Jman and London producer Illinformed, never held back their comments on the world as they see it, and now are back with their third studio project with more gritty updates on troublesome happenings on our space rock, and then some.

Still not backing out from dark topics and beats with a heavy ragga influence in the flow, their style is stands on the margin close to horrorcore and has no intention of pulling away. My statement is confirmed from the very start of the album that starts with “Crash & Burn”; a mid-tempo, eerie-sounding boom bap track that lives on the idea of bringin’ entire systems down, followed by the last year’s single “Real Badman” which by its title explains what the track is all about, really. Other songs are taking shots at the government, corrupt law enforcement, people’s revolutions, and some well-written, but grim storytelling. Jman really shows that he had enough with many things that happened since their last album nine years ago, while his lyrical creativity paints some pretty colorful pictures that aren’t for the faint-hearted. The music video for the single “Run” is a perfect example of it:

As far as the British underground goes with murky vibes in hip-hop, Babylon Dead takes the grim atmosphere as its signature sound, giving the politically-based themes a new depth and that way pretty much standing out from the usual rap blueprint the UK provides. The British accent has always given hip-hop unique maneuvers for different types of flowing, while the Jamaican accent in all of its might gives even more room to spit with even more flava. All of that together gives this album a distinctive allure and rhythm, further enhancing the whole thing. Of course, not everybody is diggin’ such a style of rapping, but those that do will find this project almost impeccable. After all, the dude was raised in Bristol, so you can bet his flow is as genuine as it gets, and all of his previous work, within and outside Babylon Dead confirms it. Even though not that much recognized in the mainstream, his influence and reputation on the UK hip-hop, grime, and drum’n’bass scene isn’t something that can be debated.

As for the instrumental side of the album, we’re talking about one of the most respected producers at the moment on the British soil. With many successful projects fully produced by him, Illinformed stands as one of the essential, quality-guaranteed beat makers that don’t deviate from the point where he does what it takes to give MCs a suitable sonic backgrounds for them to spit fire. “Death Upon Dem” is no exception as all of his effort went into creating cold, ghastly, and pretty much intimidating instrumentals that could speak stories on their own even without Jman‘s advanced lyrical skills. His production style mostly relies on small details that create a full sound picture, with each one perfectly placed to give that chilling feeling with its depth, and that tells a lot about his attention to detail. Some cats would say it really isn’t that hard to weld together a bunch of samples and effects to come up with a beat, and that directly questions his well-earned status that’s famous even among the high-profiled artists outside of the UK.

It’s no wonder these two came to working together back in the day. Even though a lot has happened in the world since their last LP, not much has exactly changed and the topics delivered are more relevant than ever. The same goes for the beats because with the dark cloud lingering above us, such a nightmarish style of production serves more as a statement rather than a simple sound backdrop. For some artists, one could easily say it’s destiny that made them link up as their energies sync up perfectly, and as for the Jman-Illinformed combo, they’re thick as thieves. Such a collaboration is something we didn’t even know we needed, but the attitude and the unfiltered messages they send, especially with the new album in these wicked times, that’s definitely something everybody needs to analyze and respect. After all, if we’re gonna talk about the fundamental values of hip-hop and what it represents in the society, “Death Upon Dem” is as hip-hop as it gets. Therefore, don’t consider this a project that chooses certain political sides, but a collective of common sense with a rudebwoy attitude.

With YouTube, I’m leaving the Bandcamp link for all of you’s that want to support these two fine artists by purchasing the album. Enjoy!

FULL ALBUM STREAM:

TRACKLIST:
01 • Crash and Burn
02 • Real Badman
03 • How Yuh Mean
04 • Flex On
05 • Out Here feat. Wyatt Earp
06 • Covered in Blood
07 • Bare Burial
08 • Buss a Shot
09 • Run
10 • Seen
11 • Chant Down
12 • Gully
13 • Redrum
14 • Anarchy & Chaos