Verb T & The Last Skeptik - Broken Window (Review)

Published by Editor July 16th, 2007 in Music Reviews.

Verb T is an artist who certainly enjoys collaborations, his first two LP’s are both collaborations first with mystical emcee Kashmere and the second with UK beat master Harry Love. This his third LP is no different this time teaming up with Dusty Crates Radio Show DJ and Halal Beats member ‘The Last Skeptik’.
The album has some great production thanks to Skeptik’s soulful beats incorpating laidback basslines, chopped up vocal samples & heavy drumkits. This goes hand in hand with Verb’s very smooth voice and thoughtful lyrics. But the downside is Verb’s voice lets the LP down seeing as it is quite monotone after a while but a good roster of guests helps balance things out. Speaking of guests the guest list is one of the high points of the album, there is the well known names of Sway, Kyza & Jehst and more underground emcee’s like Big Red and Verb T’s past collaborator Kashmere. There is also a stunning UK-US link up with Edo G on ‘No More’.
The best track on the album is ‘March’ which also features Sway & Kyza, everyone brings their own little signature to the track, Verb with some political lyrics, Sway brings his usual self-deprecation, most evident in the line ‘Don’t watch me – watch dem, going nowhere fast while im going somewhere slooooow’ and Kyza brings a top verse using lyrics with usual Lionheart references and his overused line ‘I step out my yard and lace up my boots’. This is all done over a thumping Skeptik beat which does sound like it could be used as a marching theme. The real low point is ‘All Up To You’ which is a sort of hip-hop ballad over a cheesy guitar beat which doesn’t really hit the spot.
This is a lot better than Verb T’s previous efforts and the beats are some of the best I have heard from The Last Skeptik, but it lacks that certain something that could make this a 5 star record.