All Hail Y.T. & Tone Beatz - The Spoils of Babylon [2020]

Welcome to one of my many Write-Ups, where I dive into a contextual history of a project from an artist, while also breaking down the different parts worth mentioning. Come over to my Write-Ups page for a list of all of the work I’ve done so far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Look, we got the spoils and riches of Babylon / but no earthly treasure can sway us, the path we on / is righteous, powers that be we gotta fight this / but still we get the chicken that’s Church’s, Purdue and Tyson”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knowledge is one of the most important resources in the modern world, one that is necessary to function and react to the things going on around you. With the internet, books, and social media, knowledge is more readily available than ever… however, this is also a time where control over how knowledge is spread is becoming an increasingly more important issue. Knowledge is locked behind societal barriers like class and race, and whole groups of people are left in darkness in a time when everyone in the world should be given the tools they need to be fruitful. Which brings us to the ancient city of Babylon, historically a bastion of knowledge in the ancient world with many societies seeing it as the birthplace of modern sciences and philosophies. However, in many religious texts Babylon is seen as evil, a representation of the hubris of mankind. In these texts, the people of Babylon are somewhat hedonistic, focusing on knowledge that is fundamentally “wrong”, and only through administering the “right” knowledge can they be redeemed. All of these things can be applied to the world today, and is a subject chosen by All Hail Y.T., rapper from Delaware, in his collaborative album with Tone Beatz, The Spoils of Babylon. But Y.T. puts his own spin on where this “true knowledge of Babylon” has gone, who currently lives in the darkness of Babylon on earth, and the urgency of receiving the knowledge to save existence as we know it.

All Hail Y.T. now bases himself out of Delaware, but spent most of his younger years in central Texas.

The more I listened to The Spoils of Babylon, the more confused I was about it’s main protagonist, All Hail Y.T., who I only knew as a Delaware rapper who had frequently collaborated with other rappers in that scene. Some of the flows he employs, language he uses, and beats he chooses to rap over do not scream “New York” or “Underground” like his comrades; there is a distinctly southern feel buried underneath there. Y.T. wasn’t actually born here in the U.S., instead being born into a military family while stationed in Germany. From there he bounced around to several locations, finally sticking around for a decade in the vicinity of Fort Hood, Texas. Once I read this, things fell into place over where major influences derive themselves, and checking out a selection of his other discography, which include a feature from the legendary Bun B of UGK (and by extension Houston) fame, painted a very interesting picture of a emcee with two very different styles of music coming together to inform this newest album of his. You can hear it every so slightly: that Killa Kyleon swagger that comes out on some of the more braggadocios tracks like Black Bond, Royal Flush, and (to no ones surprise) Trill Thangz III. But you can also here that more recent underground influence in Alas Babylon, The Springs of Assyria, and Charlatan’s Ruse, with people like Tha God Fahim being a clear influence to his lyrical substance. That’s one of the things that make Y.T such an interesting emcee, the fusion of these two usually separate styles into one smooth-rolling whole.

While Fahim can be a bit vague with the philosophies and enlightenment he comes with, All Hail Y.T. has a more pointed message, with much higher stakes.  The whole framework of the album revolves around living in a modern-day Babylon, which is a place where you can fulfill your earthly desires but is deeply flawed at its core. Y.T. is not removed from the debauchery, spending a lot of this album establishing himself personally as taking part in the things that cause so many problems in Babylon. The first track has Y.T. detail some of the most pressing conspiratorial matters at hand, but he explains it all away with the simple maxim: “Ignorance is Bliss”. From there, there is a steady ramp up, with Trill Thangz III portraying a small-time rider in the hood, harmless in it’s own right as it’s just a stunting young man, but he still has thoughts on society as a whole, misgivings he speaks on like the money system and what would happen if that collapses. But on Royal Flush he gets deeper into the game, slinging dope, guns, buying jewelry and foreign cars, and riding around town causing trouble with his cohort Eto. Black Bond goes even beyond the simple street hustling, where he presents himself as a professional debaucher, racketeer, gambler, and even refers to himself as “the arch-villain of the flick”, representing the lowest point in his journey, where he is the most removed from true knowledge. The Hanging Garden is almost like a vision of a perfect future, where Y.T. sees that what he needs more than anything, what he calls the Spoils of Babylon, which in this case I believe to be knowledge (not necessarily Knowledge of Self on some Nation of Islam shit, but it’s possible). The Springs of Assyria references the biblical story of the siege of Jerusalem, where the King of Israel blocks up wellsprings so that the invading Assyrians are forced to leave before they die of thirst. In the case of The Spoils of Babylon, that blocked up water is true knowledge, and the skit at the end of this track detailing how Facebook, Twitter, etc. are hoarding data and information tells us that these people (corporations, governments, social media) and the villains who have ransacked Babylon, and their spoils were the knowledge of how people can overcome the Matrix-like system of oppression. New Year’s Eve In Babylon is Y.T. finally coming to grips with the effects that these entities have had on the hood, spending the first verse sort of patronizing those who still partake in the gangsta life, and in the second making the connections between the surveillance state/prison system/Capitalism and the ills of the world today, especially in Black America. But Charlatan’s Ruse shows that the hood as it is will not change, and those who are hated more than the corporations and powerful masters are people pretending to be “Babylonians”, pretending to be in the streets and being about that life. Despite detailing his personal traumas on Brook’s Song, what Y.T. ultimately concludes on The Spoils of Babylon is that these entities have done too much damage already, and the only course of action is escape, to start over amongst the stars, before life is wiped out by reckless greed. The Saturn 5 interlude is a good summation of this idea, playing clips from Australian TV from these recent wildfires, Trump talking about murdering Qasem Soleimani and how that plunges the entire world into instability, and efforts to escape to the stars from people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. On the final track, Exodus Quest, Y.T. lays out the never-ending war against the poor and misfortunate, how it has raged since the ancient times and now continues in today’s age of digital technology, and offers to leave on a spaceship into the stars, while we all look back and watch Babylon burn in its own greed and ignorance. It’s a rather dark ending, but, in the end, the knowledge that has been taken from us will probably not be enough to save us from whatever is coming in the future.

The “Hanging” Gardens were never really “hung”; the translations hint at more of a terraced look, with tiers of foliage from different areas mesmerizing you

The people that All Hail Y.T. bring with him to tell this story on The Spoils of Babylon fit in very well into its narrative overall, and although none of them are truly necessary to telling this tale, their presences here break up the album into distinct parts. Eto on Royal Flush is a fast-living gangsta, tying in well with the story of debauchery and hedonism; I’m also loving how he’s been appearing on more happy production lately, with his appearance on Ty Farris’ also being on a more positive beat. Tha God Fahim and Chris Skillz spit some real knowledge on The Hanging Gardens and The Springs of Assyria respectively, with Fahim coming a bit more aggressive lyrically threatening to “leave you leakin’ fruit punch” with a shot form his hammer, and Chris playing heavily into subject of the track referencing water constantly as a source of knowledge and life; “the glass half full and now it’s empty” hit especially relevant to the theft of knowledge by the people in control. Jay NiCE and Left Lane Didon, the two biggest stars in underground Delaware, appear together on Charlatan’s Ruse, taking turns establishing how cold blooded and ruthless they are out here in these streets. I don’t think I’ve heard either of these guys drop a wack verse, and while they are both great fucking artists they come with something a little different form each other on here, with Lane coming with that swagger and slime in his voice and Jay hitting rhyme schemes that are hard as hell.

That brings us to Tone Beatz, the producer who created every beat on this album by himself but is still a little bit of a mystery to me at this point. Currently working out of South Carolina, the man seemingly has been around for a long ass time, at least 15 years from what I can gather, but outside of his collabs with Delaware artists this was my first time listening to an entire project of his beats. The man does an expert job balancing the old-school smooth gangsta shit with the more serious subjects across the record, using a wide variety of sounds and production styles; many others producers would just be good at one of these things, but Tone really seems to know All Hail Y.T.’s range on this project, and tailors his beats to suit. The thing that struck me the most was his reliance on smoother, synthier samples, many times evoking much older eras than 90’s hip-hop, unlike many of his contemporaries. There’s funk on here, like on the track Trill Thangz III that seems clearly inspired by Texas styles, containing synth-bass, bells and whistles, and flat rolling drums and claps. New Years Eve In Babylon and Brook’s Song contain a similar skeleton of synth buildups and prominent basswork that sound straight ripped from the late-70’s/early-80’s, on some old school soundtrack shit. Black Bond also sounds like a soundtrack, but rather than being groovy and danceable this is some Maxwell in Get Smart kind of shit, with rapid fire synths played in flurry of a loop, all of this playing into the spy movie theme of the track. Royal Flush uses different instruments like flutes and saxophones, but still would be suitable riding music in a 70’s gangster flick, or maybe the theme music to a 70’s sitcom that stars a rough-and-tumble duo of buddy-cops. The album closes out with Exodus Quest, a looser, more laid-back drum and bass session, accented by these chiming piano embellishments and mid-range horn samples; it sounds like a live studio session of jamming musicians for how smooth it is, and serves as the perfect send off into space (kind of like A Tribe Called Quest a few years ago, maybe some influence there). The more minimal tracks on here are some of my favorites, like the super vibey The Hanging Gardens, which is like an NPR interlude or some really fucking good Muzak with its driving bassline and smoldering horns that punctuate the track. This is also one of the first times you’ll notice these laser and spaceship sounds, and once you run the album back a few times you’ll tap into them and be transported to this sci-fi realm. Springs of Assyria is more of a snare tune with dainty keys, but it’s the dripping water samples that flow in the background that really transport you into the motif of the song. But for all of the throwback and smooth shit, Tone Beatz can still drop an underground east-coast grinder, with Charlatan’s Ruse being the most disgusting beat on the record with it’s grimy snares being at the forefront of the mix, horror-inspiring keys and horn drones, and those amazing laser shots and explosions that’s like a sci-fi battle happening on another planet.

Black Canvas showed a much more soulful, looped-beat sort of feel to it, much more in line with modern samplers like The Alchemist. This shows that Tone Beatz did an incredible job tailoring The Spoils of Babylon for Y.T.’s style

On The Spoils of Babylon, you’re taken for a ride on a sort of pseudo-sci-fi adventure that follows a man coming to grips with the troubles of the world. You’re shown the view from the ground, following Y.T. in his life on the streets to give you a sense of how a lack of knowledge has affected the people who live there, and ultimately posits that the damage that has been done by these mega-corporations, people like Donald Trump, and social media companies may be irreversible, and that even returning the spoils that these entities have won through ransacking Babylon, the knowledge to better our planet and out lives, may not be enough to stop the oncoming destruction. It’s a bleak outlook, but it’s a realistic one, and one that musically has made a very compelling listen. These themes aren’t immediately clear listening to All Hail Y.T. rap in the way that he does, seemingly hiding his wisdom underneath his persona of a free-wheeling smooth criminal, but digging into the true knowledge of this record reveals the talent in this guy. Tone Beatz’ contributions can not be overstated as well, with these beats not only reflecting the rapper that performs over them personally, but also fitting the framework of the narrative perfectly. The samples that the man uses (The Matrix, The History Channel or some shit, news clips, etc.), as well as the relentless lasers and other sci-fi sound effects really put you into a different world, which is a rare feeling while listen to whole albums like this. Listen to this shit like a conqueror and take the spoils that this album leaves for you… but instead of hording it to the detriment of all of society, use it. Use the knowledge to better your life and the lives of those around you, because we may not have to get on the spaceship and watch Babylon burn just yet.

YouTube/Bandcamp