DARK MATTER: MY TAKE ON NO BS'S "STEJJER"

Handposted Envelope. A Cd. One sheet of paper with a message composed of magazine cut-outs. “Shit” I said to myself while forcing a grin of fake confidence, “Someone’s threatening me.” The No BS logo and Jon and Philip’s dumb faces gave it away. My grin gave way to a smile of satisfaction. I was being threateningly invited to the launch for an album (or ‘mixtape’ as this kind of release is known in the Hip-Hop world) I had been mastering all day in my studio.

The invitation was cool. Invitation being just a star in the sea of dark matter, that is. And the sea of dark matter is the album itself, certainly Jon, probably Philip. The album is dark. Even during its lightest moments it gives off a sense of profound unease. But more than that, it MATTERS! Now, to be clear, everybody who knows something about me or Jon knows that we are close. Philip and I are on good terms now (much improvement, considering that little more than 4 years ago I would have gladly run over the guy... sorry Phil, had to let it out someday). At any rate, bias aside or not, this album is a bomb, and the mark of both Jon and Philip can be felt. I’d bet my little testicles that anyone who doesn’t simply hate Hip-Hop, Jon or Philip will like it (we have ruled out a considarable portion of the world’s poulation there!). Those who like Hip-Hop and well placed words will positively enjoy it. The increasing number of broke, angry societal rejects will revel in it.

A couple of years ago Jon became uneasy with his tried and tested means of expression. Both him and I (I help where I can) became ever more convinced that what he had started to tap into – in terms of both the themes addressed and the increasing extent to which the subjects tackled were becoming at once personal, political and cultural in scope – could not be properly expressed in any other way apart from one’s native language. This, especially in the context of the Hip-Hop genre which is always, by definition, deeply rooted in the concrete soil of our urban jungles. America, France... and occasionally Malta. The indisputable proof that we were right and that Jon, for one, had more in him than anyone had ever heard, is precisely this album.

The hard-hitting allure of “Stejjer mill-Bandli (Tal-Mosta)” owes most of its power to the intimacy that the self-proclaimed interrogator, accuser and victim of a mismanaged, abused country and a raped youth has with his native language. Jon is a magician with words and his evolved sensitivity to story-telling pace and his hard-earned chiselling of naturally outstanding technical abilities ensures that we get the message. Letting the fact that it is a Maltese-language Hip-Hop release deter us from taking it seriously is downright wrong. The only contemporary Maltese artists which might have influenced No BS is Brikkuni. It is therefore meaningful that Mario features in the second act of Samuel u Lucia, a story of tragic proportions told with skill and intensity.

Stejjer was made in the span of time it takes me to get a song done from bottom up. And it sounds like it. It is gritty and guttoral on every level. Better as it is than over-polished. Slightly more polishing, done judiciously, could have made it even stronger... but there again, it sounds awesome and that’s what matters. The album is at once challenging and fun, daring and sensitive. It spares no punches and knows right where to hit. And whom. I strongly suggest you attend the launch and get yourself a copy.