Suspekt - Dead Men Walking (Suspekt Records - 2008)

It is a very special and rare occurrence indeed when a veteran hip hop group delivers new material some 10-15 years after their “glory days” and that new material is AS GOOD as their old classic music was. That is exactly what Suspekt have done with their 2nd album “Dead Men Walking”.

The title track “Dead Men Walking” is the opener here. Musically it’s layered wonderfully with a mid-tempo snappy beat, topped for the most part with a “Nautilus” sample and dark ominous sounding violins and old school Run DMC type cowbells dropping in and out of the track as well. Even better than the music here are the two MC’s, the deep precise voiced Lennie and the higher toned rougher Pride, who both combine the form the Yin Yang balance of MC duo perfection that is right up there with the likes of Run and DMC or Erick and Parish. It is really interesting that the song is setup as somewhat of an intro to both rappers as Lennie delivers verse one, Pride gets the second verse and then for the last verse they throw the mic back and forth sharing mic duties in classic old school style. Brilliant opener.

With an even more brilliant 2nd track which is “Suspekt Jumpin”. True story - the first time I heard this song I listened to it 7 or 8 times before moving on to the next track, I could not stop playing it! Lennie’s daughter Lauren starts off the track with some sweet singing (there's talent in those bloodlines) before the most banging and lively of all head nodding beats kicks in. It’s the kind of beat that would make the even laziest person leap out of their comfy recliner and jump around the room like a psycho. Adding to the beat is a chopped sample of what could be keys or a guitar with a very reggae feel, which is an appropriate sample as one of the track's features is the ragga chatting skills of Pride. Lauren appears again for the chorus singing with a slight Jamaican accent too which is way, way cool. It's Kriss Kross "Jump" or House of Pain "Jump Around" done far better in UK hardcore style !

The first of 3 older tracks appears next, the first one being “Another Witness” which is basically a new version of Pride’s “Witness” track from the mid 90's which now features Lennie. This is a harder track which sounds somewhat like slowed down classic PE with it’s expansive wailing sirens and wicked scratching throughout from DJ Prime Suspekt, at times sitting rhythmically beneath the track and other times at the forefront in showcase style. I love the original with Pride alone but with Lennie on this now it completes the package … “we’re all Suspekts but you need a witness”.

Another remake of an even earlier Suspekt track follows ie. “Look Like A Rapper”. In fact,it's a track which appeared on their very first EP. It’s less hardcore (but no less dope) than “Another Witness” and more of a funky but pacey headnodder with simple and catchy beats topped with some stabs of screechy sounds. An interesting feature here is the appearance of the one and only Websta (from Heroes of UK Hip Hop fame) who sounds rougher on the mic than I’ve ever heard him, and that’s “rough” in the best, hardcore way possible.

The next couple tracks are solo efforts from Pride and Lennie. Lennie gives us “Stayed Up Late” which is not too much more than him dropping a couple lovely flow and flow and flow non-stop verses over a straight-forward bassline and drum track (with some great DJ work from Prime in the breaks cutting up some Guru). The beauty of this track is in its sparsity and, as the name of it suggests, it successfully gives off the vibe of Lennie alone in his room dropping verses at 2am. On the other hand “Fuck Pride” is a far more aggressive sounding track by Pride yet it sits very well alongside the prior track. It’s dark and stripped back, with a neck snapping beat with dramatic keys and ominous undertones behind it. Again in accordance with the song title Pride delivers lyrics which sum up to a stiff middle finger to all his detractors.

“Elektra’s Whisper” is another Lennie solo track which shares a similar late night chill feel to “Stayed Up Late” although it seems a bit busier musically. It’s a pretty short song with one nice long verse delivered by Lennie and probably the highlight of this one is some SMOOTH and deft DJ work by Prime Suspekt after Len’s verse. There is something really addictive about this song and it’s one of my favourites here actually.

Admittedly, more often than not, a song like “Son of a Preacher Man” would be FFWD material for me with its sung chorus and slow moody tempo, however this song is DIFFERENT. The lyrics here are the definite stand out with Lennie giving a summary of various aspects of Suspekt’s history and discussing their resurgence in amongst today’s stale hip hop scene. In a lot of ways this track is somewhat a big tribute to their supporters as Len gives shoutouts to many that inspired the group to come back and keep going strong. All that aside, it’s a really nice track to listen to which i'm assuming borrows musically from it's namesake. There's some LOVELY singing from Lennie’s daughter once again and it’s a great little cool down track before the mostly hardcore rugged onslaught of the 2nd half of the album.

Hardcore and rugged is exactly what “Stand Strong” is too with its rapid rhyming and reasonably fast BPM. At the forefront of the track are blaring horns, a fat very hard-hitting beat provides the rhythm and dramatic looped violins and piano keys are kicked in every now and then for effect. A bonus here is an extra special guest appearance from ex-Suspekt member Blue Eyes who drops a great verse and it’s really cool to hear his voice again (although taking nothing away from Blue Eyes, it has to be said that between him and Pride I do prefer Pride as I think he gives the group a rawer edge). This track is top notch aggressive bliss.

First album Suspekt flavour is evident with “Style Unorthodox” as there’s something about the bassline that has me thinking of their first LP each time I hear it. It is a prominent, rapid and catchy bassline and once again solid drums compliment it perfectly and a few little screechy type sounds throughout the soundtrack with strong DJ work again keep the hard and raw styles flowing here. Lennie's verse is especially impressive here and he's flowing a bit faster than usual and doing it superbly.

A slight change in feel comes with “Flows of the Cho-Jin Shinobi”. As the title suggests, martial arts is the theme here and all sorts of references are made to the ancient art-form in the lyrics. Thankfully they haven’t gone the typical route with a song like this of trying to bite the Wu Tang Clan musically, instead choosing to use the same, or least very similar, sample that my favourite MC in the world Del used on “Virus” (although it feels slightly more dark and raw than the more futuristic vibe of the Deltron track). I love Del, I love Suspekt, I love martial arts, I love this song.

“Lyrics Plenty 93” is, as implied by the “93”, another old song that appears here anew. A strong bassline with funky, funky drums carries this one. Most appealing about this track for me are two aspects. One - is the chorus with the guys chanting “Lyrics, lyrics, lyrics plenty” coupled with a beautifully scratched in sample saying the same thing. Two – Pride – he steps into the phone booth and comes out with his ragga superhero outfit on again and absolutely sounds wonderful chatting away sounding totally natural, not at all forced and most importantly DOPE and you can tell he’s been doing ragga styles for a long time. NICE.

“Mic Murders”, above all tracks here, is the definitive proof that Lennie and Pride are an MC combo match made in heaven. They go back and forth, verse for verse, for the whole song in such a brilliant way that hasn’t been heard since the days of Run and DMC and I would love to see them on stage performing this in classic tag team style. Musically it’s a mid tempo snappy drumbeat with the most addictive horns imaginable totally drawing you into the zone of the song and you can’t help but being hooked by them. Again the DJ work tops this off wonderfully.

The very different sounding and very funny “Fuckers” comes along next. Appropriately to the name of the song Lennie, Pride and guest MC, Scenes14, give out a little “anti” tribute to all the fuckers of the world. It’s a pretty cruisy track with nothing much more than a mellow beat and bassline driving it (with loud horns providing a lift to it all in the breaks) which probably intentionally leaves the main focus on the lyrical content such as … Pride with “who the fucking hell wants to know about big bro or see some sad fuckers in the jungle with thick hoes, reality TV full of twats with no life, the same fuckers trying to be celebrity lowlifes” or Lennie and "Mothers, sometimes i hate those fuckers, when they bring the crying babies into crowded places just so every else fucker suffers like they do" LOL! This is a very different song for Suspekt but they pull it off well and crewmate Scenes 14 is a good addition to this one.

The penultimate track here is the one that any britcore fiend would be going totally nuts over. “The Usual Suspekts” features the brilliant Warped Ethics (a.k.a. the modern day Gunshot) and I couldn’t think of a 2008 UK hip hop collab that I’d rather have than Suspekt and Warped Ethics on a track together! The track is everything I’d want it to be as well. Starting off with a fear inducing roaring lion, the music then kicks in with dramatic violins, then the rapid and strong bassline takes off and finally the beat drops in and becomes a frenzy of snare and hi-hat lovely madness. Each MC gets a verse here and I cannot pick the best verse amongst the 4 of them, to me each MC here is a current day UK hip hop champion and simply cannot be fucked with. Of course, the breaks are filled by busy scratching and a few old movie samples also thrown in to top off the classic UK hardcore hip hop package.

The last track and outro is “Prime Directive” a DJ showcase piece by Prime Suspekt. It’s a brilliant way to close the album as this type of track is something that’s sorely missing in hip hop these days. Amongst other things, he cuts up … “Let’s be realistic, the UK runs that and no one can stop that”. Indeed !

Honestly this is one of the best albums I have heard since the turn of the century and probably longer than that and in fact I will go so far as to say that I like it even better than the first Suspekt album. I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams that any 2008 “comeback” album by a golden era artist would even come close to something they released 10-15 years prior but Suspekt have managed to match and even eclipse some of their earlier work with this album. Something that would have a lot to do with that is proven by the fact that the 3 old re-vamped songs on here actually sit perfectly in amongst the new tracks, or more so vice versa which suggests that this album sits right in the pocket of the classic early 90’s UK sound – and that’s exactly what I want from my UK hip hop. Thank you very much Suspekt.