'Bad Guys' - Delegates of Culture (album review)

After ten years of larking around together and occasionally throwing out a record or two, Delegates of Culture have put together their second full-lengther. Now don’t get it twisted –they’ve been putting in work with their ‘Headcleaners’ mix CDs, solo/duo releases and Cambridge Hip Hop nights but now it’s time to get serious. And serious they have got.

‘Bad Guys’ features differing combinations of vocal stylings from core members Toe, Bee 109, S Class, Inja and Skuff. It also features a fine assortment of beats from Shox, Bee 109, Toe, Earshot and Rak.

The album kicks off with some hardcoreness in the form of the no-nonsense ‘Intro’ and metaphorical ‘Goldenaxe’. This, however, is a misleading start because when the funky, up-tempo ‘HipHop Side Effects’ kicks in you hear the type of Hip Hop that DOC are good at. S Class then stands solo on ‘I Don’t Know’ on which he talks real sense over an upbeat piano loop making it a favourite of mine.

‘Laid Back’ is a standout moment mostly because of its 80s science documentary arpeggiated synths and ‘Cream 2009’ (reproduced by Toe) is a quality UK take on Wu-Tang’s classic (although I doubt many American’s will like it!).

Overall, without taking each track in turn, Delegates have put together an album with suitable diversity both in lyrical styles and content and production sound. The album is out today (that’s 27th April 2009) on School Bully Records and you can pick it up over at Disorda’s ever-faithful Suspect Packages.

For a free download of 'Grip', another favourite from the album, click here.