Deep Water Slang v2.0

What beauty lies in the unexplored regions of this planet? We just don't know until we see it, hear it with our own ears, and become intimate with it. A photo of that unexplored thing of beauty is no good, just like a review of an album like this is, ultimately, no good. All you can really do is re-tell, as best you are able, the experience it gave you, in the hope that others might follow and discover it for themselves.

I had never heard of Zion I until a recent trip to Colorado, where a cousin on my fathers side, a cousin who I never knew I had, played me this music in a car. He played me what must have been the old Zion I album, however instantly, I knew I was listening to something different. Their latest effort is, in my opinion literally twice (2.0) as good as their first, with more developed sounds and sharper lyrics. The rhymes from the frontman, Zion are not super-clever, witty, or complex, but instead honest, real, simple even, but at the same time always flowing with sincerity and spirituality. The music is something else. If you haven't figured out by the slightly boring cover art (which is the only part of this LP that isn't groundbreaking) this is a hip-hop record. Yes it's hip-hop through and through, however I don't recall ever hearing a hip-hop producer with as much appreciation and respect for the aesthetic beauty and possibilities of music as the second member of Zion I, Amp Live.

I could say that Amp Live is the reason I love this album, because as nice as Zion is as an MC, it's the way he seems to be influenced by Amp's beats that makes everything else come together so magically. Prime examples would be the funky 'Kharma' which sounds like a regular old Tribe Called Quest joint for the first three quarters until the beat completely changes, and a sprinkle of indian sitar graces the track with eastern vibes, complete with the sampled singing that anyone familiar with the south asian musical culture will recognise. Of course, Zion is more than up to the task and switches up his rhymes accordingly to make for one brilliant climax,

"Seeds is planted, trees is chopped,
Many await for the day when Jesus drop,
But in the mean-time live lives of sin,
At the gates of Heaven they can't get in,
Reachers teachers, holy rollers,
Terrorists bomb pakistani soldiers..."

The up-tempo bangers on the LP all work- mainly because Zion never relents with his agenda, if it's a party-type beat, he'll still be spitting conscious lyrics about the state of black people and spirituality etc. The best example of this is 'Warriors Dance' which stunned me when I first heard it. I won't pretend it doesn't sound like a Neptunes beat with those hot drums and synth lines, however it's the urgency of the overall flow, with Amps perfect placing of an Eastern tribal style sample that really keeps this track sharper than a gillette razor. The other most enjoyable up-tempo track is 'Cheeba Cheeba' which has a break beat that just makes you smile... I can't decide if its a typical west-coast beat, or a typical New York beat, however one thing is for sure, it's hip-hop! The same applies with regards to Zion who keeps it socially conscious and interesting with the lyrics, as he drops the names of Malcom X and Frida Kahlo in the same verse. That's not even to mention the fact that it has one of the most catchy hooks I ever heard. Sure, I'll admit that there's nothing that special about a lady singing "Freak freak man, Cheeba cheeba man" but it's the way she pronounces it, with that addictive innocent Brasillian accent that makes it truly different, interesting, artful.

This album is one of those really enjoyable type of albums that doesn't have bad tracks on it. There will be some that aren't as fantastic as others, however the quality is consistent throughout, and every two or three songs there'll be one really outstanding gem- you know the kind of album I'm talking about! For me, those gems are the slower, more melodic tracks which show Zion at his most honest/open and Amp with enough room to explore all those musical possibilities. Firstly, there's the eclectic 'Finger Paint', where harps, electric guitars and lovely psyadelic lyrics meet one of the nicest chorus' you'll hear on the album. Get this, it's sung by a female vocalist who actually sounds like she's feeling what she's singing about (as opposed to sounding like she's just singing some awfully innapropriate trash that some illiterate rapper wrote for her!) ... how about that??? And it goes a little something like this:

"Breaking all the shit that I don't want to hold,
Making all the song-birds inside me flow,
Snow in all the season, can make me grow,
And I'm breathing..... I'm breathing slow."

Doesn't sound that special in writing does it? Go listen to it then, because you can trust me, it's a delight, her voice, those words and that music together is a delight! Amp Live packs one last suprise as what sounds like Tablas crash in at the end over that amazing harp sample. What about the next gem? It has to be 'Flow' and this one has one of my favorite west-coast MC's, The Grouch doing what he does best, flowing a little like Del tha funky homosapien, and penning those amazingly simple and potent lyrics making you shake your head in amazement. The beat, like the final masterpiece I'll mention in a moment, is open and sparse, the piano doing its duty in a grand ethereal way that hip-hop just isn't used to.

But I'll leave the last paragraph for 'Sorry', the emotional masterpiece of the Deep Water Slang LP. You forgot about this kind of melodic hip-hop, you might have heard snippets or moments when a beat could be this nice in this way, like on the beatnuts track 'Do you believe?' or Capone N Noreaga's 'Live on, live long' but none of those come close to the musical brilliance and human emotion that Amp and Zion display here. The organs, and violins all work together with the very californian sounding flutes to perfect this teary-eyed masterpiece. Amp shows a maturity beyond most hip-hop producers in bringing the instrumentation in late on in the song, building and building to the live, beautiful violin climax and melancholy vocal, "Don't you ever go away..." I'd like to talk for paragraphs about Zions amazingly personal lyrics, however we'd be here all night if I did.

This is one of the best albums I've heard in recent times, and I'm angry that the media is not giving these guys more respect or publicity. These wonderful songs have that kind of open, free vibe that makes me think it could only have come from the West coast (as it does). Most importantly, it's an album that might make you believe in hip-hop again if, like me, you've been a wavering a little in your love for that once mighty musical style. Keep checking for these guys, they're real. Once you hear this album, you'll know what I mean.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, 30th Jul 2004

http://endorph.sevcom.com/zioni.html interview with both members of Zion I

http://www.daveyd.com/interviewzioni.html interview with Zion