Album Review: Believin Stephen “Suffering Servant”

Believin Stephen “Suffering Servant”
Released: 2010
Reviewed By:  DJ Gravity X 2/11
Rating: 6.6 (of 10)
[xrr rating=6.6/10]

Believin Stephen has finally released his first full length album, Suffering Servant. The brother of Timothy Brindle has gained a name for himself in recent years with his “What I Believe EP” and “The Perseverance Mixtape” (available for free download) and naturally his brother’s more established name. While I’m sure it’s tough with continuously being compared to his brother, there may also be some advantages. But this continuous comparison might be why he doesn’t go by the Brindle name and instead stands on his own.

While Stephen has decided to use a stage name he still shares a similar style to his brother as Stephen drones with a slow, drawn out delivery with limited words per line and a surprisingly high numbers of rhymes, many multi-syllable, and an intricate rhyme scheme. What is impressive is with so few words per line there is still such an overflowing of powerful and in-depth content fully capable of teaching and challenging the attentive listener. And while Stephen has grown in his delivery, ability, technique and content, he still lacks a certain appeal in his vocal delivery that would draw people in to listen. This is something that has improved, but may be the one major item lacking in Stephen’s repertoire.

To stand a bit apart from the traditional “Brindle” style, Stephen has implemented a quirky delivery with swooping tone or drone heavily effecting the last two words or syllables and reminds me of an autistic child rocking backing and forth and talking like Rain Man. This is something especially prevalent on “Christ Can Related” and “Teddy’s Story” and becomes quite annoying very quickly, souring what would otherwise be a good track and lessening the quality of others. This just means that Stephen still needs to work on the delivery to make it more appealing.

Something that has permeated much of Timothy’s music also seems to continue somewhat on Stephen’s album, which is beats that just don’t impress. While there are some bright spots like in “Surprised by Suffering?” and “Victory March,” other tracks like “Suicide” just don’t cut it (pun implied). The right beat can either accentuate the artist, his/her delivery and the content of the track, or even hide the artist’s shortcomings. The difficulty with most of these beats, as with too much of boom bap, is that beats are very basic and simplistic putting the crux of the burden on the emcee. But I liked tracks like “His Purpose is Gracious” and its relaxed style and sample, something that really helped accentuate the story and puts the content and message on display. This happened to be one of my favorite tracks overall, and I think the fact that Timothy Brindle does feature in played a large part in it.

But that is the real point of this album and much of what comes through Lamp Mode Recordings. The most important aspect is not the beat or the delivery, but is actually the content and the message. What does it matter to impress a man with your style and delivery, make him bounce and nod his head and yet say nothing and leave him for dead? So what is the message of this album, The Suffering Servant?

Stephen deals with issues like, why do we suffer and why does God allow all this pain? As Stephen has expressed on HolyCulture.net, the “heavily thematic album tackles the topic of suffering by focusing on four major components.” Those components are: “Trials Stephen has gone through in the past and as a believer;” “Suffering other people go through around the world;” “Suffering biblical characters have undergone;” and “Suffering that Jesus The Suffering Servant went through. He’s the perfect example of one who suffered rightly.” For those who have wondered about such things, find themselves burdened by their own suffering, or just like to learn more about God and the bible and gain wisdom, “The Suffering Servant” is a wonderful work that will be certain to assist in growth and, prayerfully, repentance.

Among some of the stand out tracks is “Grief.” Complete with a personal life reflection on young family life difficulties and struggles, Stephen is joined with Deadmanwalking, B-Doe and Average Joe, telling stories that will certainly sadden those who grieve for other’s suffering and relate with those who have their own stories.

“Walk With a Limp” creates a clever change of direction from the concept of walking with a limp like a pimp strut, or what have you and instead takes a humble approach of one who has struggled a lot and “shows we wrestle,” inevitably coming through that struggle by the grace of God. In the way that the scars of war have been seen as badges of honor for warriors, so to does this “limp” sort of represent our war scars. This was one of my favorites from the first time I heard the hook. I must admit that the track still suffers its own shortcomings with the very basic beat and average delivery. But the soft melody, DJ scratching, hook and overall message, especially as the song progresses, help to offset these shortcomings enough to easily enjoy this track multiple times.

Now, while I have put a lot of focus on Stephen’s delivery and the beats, I had only briefly mentioned “Victory

March.” This closing track of the album is the only one with any real energy and forces Stephen to spit and sound very different than much of this album. Instead of a slow drone and swooping tones, Stephen attacks the track, rides the beat and generally impresses. Better yet, feature artist Phien adds a favorable dynamic fitting in the track perfectly. Plus, I am a fan of good, short sermon excerpts interjected into hip hop tracks. By far, this is my favorite track.

With any fortune, this will be the last time that Stephen is compared to his brother. But in that comparison, Stephen has a bit further to travel and much more work at standing apart. Though not a burden in the traditional sense, maybe that’s just another dimension to Stephen’s limp. Walk it out fam.

Comprehensive Ratings:

• Music: 5 of 10
• Flow / Delivery: 4 of 10
• Lyricism: 9 of 10
• Content: 10 of 10
• Creativity / Originality / Relevancy: 6 of 10
• Credibility / Confidence: 8 of 10
• Personality / Character: 9 of 10
• Presentation Quality: 4 of 10
• Overall Production Quality: 6 of 10
• Potential Impact: 5 of 10