Supreme Being Unit

Twin rappers Mindbender and Conspiracy dropped their slept-on classic of underground Canadian hip-hop with second Supreme Being Unit album Mental Reverse Spiritual Rebirth in 1997. However, the two rarely collaborated ― each side of the cassette was given over to one MC ― and in the decade-plus since they have continued to grow and evolve separately with a slew of solo albums. With follow-up In Space, No One Can Hear You Rhyme, the two truly collaborate, and that's the genius of it. Conspiracy is in top form, growling simple similes and lists that reference comics, books and movies in his slow, sort-of-sloppy style, while Mindbender deliberately dances around the beat using a linear narrative punctuated by big words. Though one or the other may handle a particular topic better, they touch on positivity, violence, pseudo-science, mysticism, spirituality, conspiracy theories, corruption, rap, sex and more. Weezl (DJ to Edmonton rapper and poet laureate Cadence Weapon) provides the beats, with the exception of one each from Max Prime and Chris Plus. Densely layered in spacey, electronic sounds, the beats suit the usual vibe of these two artists, although "Glorious Harmonization" and "Inner Struggle" are simple, boring and a little too long. Weezl's cuts are great though, and make the longer instrumental endings worthwhile. In Space, No One Can Hear You Rhyme may be a little messy and lo-fi, but it's great to (finally!) hear Mindbender and Conspiracy together again, especially as both bring their A-game.