Babylon Dead – “2000 BD” (Album Review)

Babylon Dead is a boom bap, political hip hop & ragga duo consisting of Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee Jman alongside London producer Illinformed. One of whom has a couple solo albums under his belt already with Auranography & Free Dank whilst the other has become known for producing “Chalice” featuring Chip Fu off Jedi Mind Tricks’ only album without Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind’s involvement Violence Begets Violence. These guys initially got together for The Mould Tape’s outro “Gettin’ Mouldly” & have signed to the Glastonbury, Somerset imprint Real Life Drama Records for a debut album.

After the “Enter” intro, the title track sets the tone of what’s to come with an orchestral boom bap beat talking about meeting your demise if Jman shanks ya whereas “Raggo” embraces a significantly dustier approach instrumentally speaking of taking over the whole scene. “Judgement” hooks up more kicks & snares talking about maintaining the equally militant mind state the late Peter Tosh had leading into “Empire” shows a pyromaniac side to them both.

“Duppy” samples some strings making political commentary on serious long-term issues such as decades of police brutality while “Veteran” sticks with a boom bap vibe talking about the rest of the world not being ready for the movement Babylon Dead are about to start. “Acab” stands out for being amongst the earliest origins of the “all cops are bastards” phrase condemning officers for abusing their power & after the “Enemy” skit, “Voodoo” gruesomely talks about death having no fear for anyone or anything.

Starting off the last leg, “Fuckery” comes out the gate incorporating these funereal organ melodies observing the very thing he sees when turning on the television these days while “Hostage” continues to warn the game of it’s eventual takeover Jman & Illinformed are plotting. “Greed” eerily talks about being at war for that very reason & the current year of 2000 BD itself but after the “Message” skit, “Funeral” cooks up a ragga outro publicly rejecting a desire to have a service of remembrance if the pairing winds up dissolving for whatever reason there could hypothetically be.

My favorite album in the ragga subgenre of dancehall will always be Buju Banton’s 4th album ‘Til Shiloh & although I wouldn’t put Mad Lion’s sophomore effort Real Ting above it, it does have moments that’ve become somewhat overlooked. Babylon Dead nonetheless has introduced themselves by giving Real Life Drama Records a top 5 entry in their whole catalog portraying a happy marriage between Illinformed’s boom bap & ragga production and Jman’s politically charged lyrics.

Score: 8/10