Suspence

Suspence hails from our far northern neighbor Ontario, Canada—not a place particularly known for their hip-hop acts. He defines his music as a blend of electronica, rock and hip-hop and seemingly negotiates between sounds to create an entirely fresh genre. It is certainly different and incomparable but saturated with pulsating drumbeats and electric guitar, his over-instrumentation may prove to drown out the weight of his lyrics. There are primarily two schools of hip-hop listeners: those who define an albums success on the beats and those who judge based on the lyrical content. Those concerned with Suspence’s lyrical content will be pleased to be exposed to this artist, whose South African background opens up the topic gates to issues like the aftermath of apartheid and his personal experiences with racism. Although his deliveries are sing songy at times— “Hush little lady don’t you cry, I’m going to sing you a lullaby”—and borderline whiny, Suspence has plenty of potential to draw a multi-genre, cross-cultural following.

-Boyuan Gao