Baby J — Birth

Debut album by British producer Jonathan "Baby J" Hewitt, which brings together some of the most promising rappers on the New York scene in this listening hour, mostly unknown artists. Inside are the duo A.Alikes, Poetic, Shaqueen, Omen, Shabazz the Disciple, Knowledge Scientifik Cipher, Kinzmen, Freestyle, B. Mohammad, Bless of Ruthless Bastards, Yogi, Fire, G-Force, the duo Celestial Souljahz and DJ Noize.

The album is launched quite correctly by the A.Alikes duo formed by Ness & K, who make a good piece ("For My Army"), before the arrival of a long section somehow related to Wu-Tang. Poetic of RZA's group Gravediggaz drops "Savior", preceding Shabazz the Disciple, former member of Sunz of Man, who kills his cut together with the emerging Omen and Shaqueen (wife of Kool G Rap), smashing a dark minimal beat with good hardcore delivery.

Soon after, the CD fades with some guys choosing to go into spoken word ("The God in Man"), before welcoming the Red Hook act Kinzmen ("Unssen Hand") and a trilogy of songs by Brooklyn duo Celestial Souljahz made up of cousins Freestyle of Arsonist and Shabazz the Disciple. Although in this period the emcee is at his best with a dope and tight flow, "War Trilogy" isn't among the best songs on the project. Freestyle remains on the mic offering his own solo choice with "Focus".

There's room later for Bless, Yogi and Fire, none of them impress. A.Alikes returns with "Walk with a Bop", inaugurating the last part of the tape. "Angels of Death" is a posse featuring Yogi spitting bars alongside Shabazz the Disciple, Freestyle and Poetic, followed by a G-Force solo with "How Long?", which somehow manages to maintain the level of the previous tunes. The album closes with a pearl, "The Lamb's Blood", one of Shabazz the Disciple's best pieces, who delivers one of his sharpest flows on one of Baby J's best productions.

Released by Bomb Hip-Hop Records, overall, it's a good album that doesn't make concessions to the mainstream and doesn't feature hits for the club, indeed it denounces its structures as Poetic and Freestyle do, this does justice to the product created by Baby J, even if one of the few weak points are the hooks, all quite shoddy and simplistic. Boom bap production is often adequate, the rhythms are devoid of samples, dirty, filthy, rusty, rotten, purely underground, unfiltered. Some boys and girls kill cuts, while others perform the lyrics with a dull, slow rapping style and disappoint, having to work on breath control. Not essential, 6/10.