The second verse of Knowledge Understanding Wisdom is, potentially, the most important of Dälek’s discography. “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave / algorithms attempt to dictate how we behave / fear tactics and theatrics culminate in ice raids / the feeble loosely hold on to power with tight reigns”.
MC Dälek surveys a society that was destroyed just as improvement looked possible. Despite Brilliance of a Falling Moon – which takes its title from a chapter of Erik Larson’s account of William Dodd in Nazi Germany, In the Garden of Beasts – envisioning resistance in fascist America, the above cut insists not on mere survival, but fighting back, like how Expressions of Love vows to “rip out the cancer”, like how For the People snubs complacency through fear of extinction, as a lonely violin dangles.
Political evil isn’t all that complex; it isn’t intelligent in a well-honed manner, a notion that Normalised Tragedy pummels. MC Dälek makes sure he is: “stay precise with the syllables / true to my principles / won’t salute no war criminal / timbre stay visceral”. There is a regular commitment to rap fundamentals on Brilliance of a Falling Moon, which sharpens protest.
It’s ‘put up or shut up’ time for Dälek. Substance says it: some emcees talk a lot, BUT THEY’RE NOT SAYING ANYTHING (mmm, Talking Heads reference), so MC Dälek makes sure he’s putting in a shift himself, on the entire album – he feels he needs to on I AM A MAN; his words are his fists.
Substance itself, honouring the legacy of hip hop, has the beat of a classic – a bit of a Nas (who is referenced on the second verse) undertone – with some pure Dälek innovation on the subtle industrial qualities. The album actually steers focus away from industrial to favour fundamentals – the product of sheer motivation – because the production gets less inventive a few tracks in, whilst still excitingly-arranged by MC Dälek and Mike Mare.
Better Than – alongside a few other tracks – runs on a frothing, black coffee steam that emerges from a boom bap beat; a seamless puff of air like Ian McDonald leaning on a mellotron. But it all comes back to MC Dälek’s switched-on flow, rapping “modern-day Phoenicians, they speak phonetically / genetically, I’m prone to grow my anger exponentially” like a chunked-out Inspectah Deck. It’s a good way to behave when doubting the complexity of other rappers.
It feels like society cruelly overlooks MC Dälek as a spitter; he kills it on Brilliance of a Falling Moon. Hell, the political themes are more detailed than I’ve let on – By the Time We Arrive in El Salvador goes to task on misinformation, male-dominated political systems, and facing the smarmy, behind-the-scenes of political control.
Brilliance of a Falling Moon may not innovate sonically like From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots or Absence, but it feels more important than sonic innovation. It’s all about the dialec(t).
Best tracks – Better Than – Knowledge Understanding Wisdom – Substance – For the People.
Rating – 7.5 out of 10
