Old To The New - Ryan Proctor’s Beats, Rhymes & Hip-Hop Nostalgia

“The whole essence of the group is about coming with the illest lyricism, but combining that with some knowledge as well. I’m hoping that when people start to get into what we’re talking about, it might help them change their ways spiritually, mentally and physically.” Over a decade since Mobb Deep first told us about a war going on outside no man is safe from, gruff east London emcee Cyrus Malachi is reminding HHC that the struggle still continues on the frontlines today, but Triple Darkness are here to make a difference.

Originally a duo, the “vision” of Triple Darkness began in 2003 when Hackney homeboys Cyrus and Nasheron started rhyming together, but it wasn’t until 2005 when Malachi returned home from a brief jail stint that the pair really started to take their musical aspirations seriously. Hooking-up with talented producers Beat Butcha and Chemo, the twosome also added M9 to their ranks, with the west London rapper having recently achieved some solo notoriety by releasing his own gritty but thought-provoking material.

“We are a conscious group,” says Cyrus when asked about the trio’s multi-layered references to everything from stopping gun crime on British streets to ancient Egyptian history and the Illuminati. “But conscious rap comes with its own stereotypes and can be very predictable. So we’ve tried to use everything we’ve seen growing-up around poverty and depravity to show people they need knowledge of self to survive in this world. I’m not afraid to speak out about issues I see affecting the black community.”

Although it would be easy to write off some of the more esoteric content heard on TD’s debut album ‘Anathema’ as the result of too much time spent listening to Killah Priest and Tragedy Khadafi, the group share a genuine thirst for any information that can help them make sense of the “paradoxical” modern world we live in, even if that sometimes means entering the shadowy area of conspiracy theories and unseen global powers. “When I started reading up on the reasons behind certain historic events and different secret societies it just blew me away,” says M9. “It all started to come together like a jigsaw for me and I realised that the whole idea of the New World Order is something that’s very serious. It’s such a big part of my life that it’s only natural it would also be a big part of my rhymes.”

Nasheron, meanwhile, has concerns closer to home, such as the influence of today’s popular thugged-out hip-hop on the younger generation. “It romanticises a certain lifestyle without showing the full reality of it,” begins the passionate lyricist. “I’ve yet to see someone live that street life and it be all rosy. There’s always a price to pay. These kids today doing all sorts of madness, it’s like their mental growth has been stunted because of this sh*t.”

“‘Anathema’ deals with the muck and the mire,” states Cyrus in a parting reference to the group’s unapologetically hardcore project. “But the underlying theme is that we need to rise up out of the social conditions we find ourselves in.”

Ryan Proctor

Triple Darkness - “Anathema” (Higher Heights / 200