The Beautiful by Divine Suns

“The Beautiful” is always saying something, and means it. It moves with dexterity between tracks like “I Love You” which jump right in and cover these moments of tumult and the community’s fight for racial justice. Each verse bounces from first person, to a grand sweeping community wide view of events and the psychology of living while Black in these times. Each track, from “Maxine”, to “The Beautiful”, paints the picture of a team of men, and fathers, and thinkers and activists, trying to make sense of this chaotic time. They do this with measured thoughtfulness, a love of wordplay which comes through on each offering of “The Beautiful” and a confidence and care which makes the project one that is easy to follow and process while, and after, listening.


There is a rich language to the project, and that may come both from the maturity of the MCs who skillfully run the break and pass off to one another, or the reality of the various regions that the team’s MCs come from. The beats are secondary to the rhymes and subjects here. It doesn’t hurt “The Beautiful” in any way, rather, the approach to production allows for the beats to stay out of the way and support the power of the lyrics and each chapter of the message being carefully delivered. This project will require a few listens, and there are no tracks which are disposable. It is a project, and is meant to be consumed as a full, coherent whole.

Adults, even those with the discerning taste and distracted approach to consumption which has nearly extinguished the classic hip-hop that we call for, will find “The Beautiful” to be a project well worth their time, and the Divine Suns to be a team speaking up for a generation. It’s a powerful concept album, one driven by a team which appears to be determined to bring the true team album back. This is no squad of disparate personalities. Happenstance did not bring this crew together. This is a team, building off of and with one another, and the sound they produce benefits from that cohesion.

divinesuns.com