Suspekt - The Underground Strikes Back (Move Records - 1996)

It's a crying shame but Suspekt are probably one of the lesser known veteran UK hip hop groups and lesser known is something they don't deserve to be as they are up there with the BEST of them. Sitting nicely amongst a handful of earlier and later EP releases they brought us their debut and one and only LP (so far) being the appropriately titled “The Underground Strikes Back”.

They waste no time with an intro and get straight to business with the funky opener “Straight from the Heart”. Musically the track is driven by a relatively simple breakbeat backed by a catchy bassline with lovely horns and DJ work in the chorus, nothing stellar or majestic about the song but it's just plain solid and dope. The aspect that really stands out to me whilst listening to this one, are the two MC’s. Firstly we have Blue Eyes who brings crystal clear pronunciation and lovely verbal diction to the mic device and he always struck me as being precise and careful with every word delivered. Secondly is the slightly more rough and aggressive sounding Lennie who has that natural flow and flow and flow for days type mic presence. The two are quite different yet blend well together (think PMD and Erick Sermon). The theme of the opening track is basically an attack on commercialism in hip hop and fakers and so on with lines like “… when I hear a UK rapper copy the USA, I press eject” sending the message out there loud and clear and this concept permeates throughout the whole album and fulfils the expectations set by the album title.

Next up we have the “Blow Up” remix which is a reworked version of the opening track from their earlier EP “Bury the Bulls**t”. The original version of this track is close to my favourite Suspekt tracks of all time and whilst this version with its somewhat jazzified touch isn’t quite up there with the rough, raw and hardcore original it’s still an awesome track. It starts out with 20 seconds or so of a mellow Tribe Called Quest sounding jazz intro then suddenly we are greeted by frenetic scratching and a strong, banging beat which is the engine for the track. Len really shines incredibly on the microphone here and I absolutely love hearing him rhyme on this track and Blue Eyes isn't letting down the team either.

Admittedly “The Lost City of Rap” track loses me somewhat and is my least favourite track on here (but far from wack). Musically it’s slow, moody and ambient and has a sleepy tempo just drags too much for me, especially as it clocks in at over 5 minutes. Without the MC’s it’s something I’d imagine to hear on a Mo Wax/Ninja Tunes instrumental album in the 90’s. Major props though for the ideas and lyrics behind it as the two MC’s cleverly bring us visuals of literally being caught up in lost city of rap somewhere and they certainly attack the mics with some fire despite the blunted out abstract feel of the music behind them.

Tracks like “Born to Battle”, "Wasteland", “R.A.P.E” and "Between the Lines" (possessing a very evident and catchy bassline which would’ve been right at home on House of Pain’s “Same As It Ever Was” LP) all similarly follow a tasty formula of prominent basslines, midtempo beats and jazzy touches interspersed throughout the tracks, albeit with different tempos to each of the songs giving them their own identities. Especially impressive is "Born to Battle" with a wonderful kicking beat running the track at an even and perfect tempo with our MC hosts flowing with consummate ease along with the beat and passing the mic back and forth and backing each other up in that classic RunDMC style. However for some reason the Blue Eyes solo track “Wasteland" does have me missing Lennie and Blue Eyes working together.

“Dead Pool” is one of my favourites on this album. This is a pure, pure, pure head nodder and is essentially Len’s solo effort with just a bit of background and chorus help from his extremely eloquent blue eyed cohort. Another fantastic bassline with rough horn stabs and a lively beat sit wonderfully alongside Len’s verbal attack. Just sheer funky, raw hip hop perfection on display here. Think Lord Finesse’s first LP and you have an idea of the sound you’re dealing with on this one.

“MC Pretend” delivers a slower jammy with piano keys sprinkled around behind nice drums and is yet another necessary attack on fakers and fronters. The most interesting factor here is that the track features Mystik Journeymen but really the guests do nothing more than speak a few words on the track. However the simple fact that two lesser known groups from the UK and the USA did combine in some way on record during those years is quite significant, as UK and US MC’s residing on a track together is still a rarity these days, let alone in the mid 90’s where it was almost unheard of. Not sure what the catalyst behind the collaboration was but nuff respect to both groups for making it happen (although the Mystik dudes should have dropped a verse or two!).

“On the Fast Tip” is not actually a track where the MC’s are picking up the pace (which you might be misled to believe based on the song name) but is in fact the first of two instrumental DJ tracks on this album. Probably can’t say too much about this one as it’s par for the course as far as DJ tracks go but one thing worth a mention is the tempo change mid song where the DJ (DJ Format) does in fact pick up the pace and the name “on the fast tip” makes perfect sense. The second DJ track “Check the Format” comes later in the album and again not much to elaborate on here other than the fact that I like the earlier DJ track better as this one does get rather tiresome with someone seemingly playing some freestyle keyboard notes for the last two minutes of it which doesn't lend itself to much replay value.

However if I wanted replay value then Suspekt hit me over the head with it bringing a raw, hardcore, knockout punch in the form of the brilliant title track “The Underground Strikes Back” ! Although this album came out at, or even beyond, the tail end of the UK hardcore/britcore era, this track would’ve been right at home on a Gunshot LP or a First Frontal Assault 12” from the early 90’s. It brings absolutely everything to the table - a hard, fast, hitting, rapid drum track, air raid sirens giving it that glorious urgent and ominous feel, two MC’s spitting their verses with hyper venom and speedy deliveries and not to mention it has an amazing effect where pacey piano keys are running all over the track, appearing and reappearing off and on behind the verses and the chorus. Another major feature of this one is Lennie’s performance on the mic and the way he weaves and combines Star Wars themes into a scathing diss on the wack MC’s of the world. His performance is absolutely brilliant and I rate Lennie’s verses on this track as the best I’ve ever heard from him. This is honestly one of the best songs I have ever heard in my life and I’ve probably listened to it more than most other songs and it gives replay value a new meaning ! "Into my verbal vortex they will vanish ..." you tell em Lennie !

This is really an outstanding album with only a couple very minor negative points. Perhaps the most significant general factor earning the album my high praise is that it is real and pure yet very creative and unique but without reaching the extent of being too experimental and left field which normally has me breaking CD’s in half and tossing them in garbage. In terms of similarity in overall sound it truly doesn't have a match with any other album from any era and the two MC's stand alone and cannot really be likened to anybody else that grabbed a mic before or since. Yes the album does have some influences from the harder UK hip hop released 5 years before it and yes it does have smaller amounts of mid 90’s USA east coast sounds within the production. However the touches from both areas are quite subtle and combine nicely to bring the listener the distinctive Suspekt sound which a select few of us in the know can't get enough of.