ZION I
ZION I
After delving into upbeat, electronic music on 2009′s The Takeover, Oakland hip-hop stalwarts Zion I enter a new phase of their chameleonic career with Atomic Clock (November 9, 2011, Gold Dust), a moody, emotional record inspired by the group’s longtime admiration for reggae and dub. While the group’s roots are still firmly planted in hip-hop, Atomic Clock’s cavernous, atmospheric vibe recalls both the classic roots reggae of Max Romeo and The Congos and forward-thinking dub mixing of UK artists such as Adrian Sherwood. “The Takeover was a very external record and we wanted to focus on fun, party music,” says emcee Zumbi AKA Zion. “This one is much more reflective and internal. We didn’t want to just recreate what we did last album. Art is not about living in the past.”
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For Atomic Clock, the duo employed live musicians to flesh out producer Amp Live’s original beats and thicken the overall sound. For many of Atomic Clock’s tracks, Amp would create the skeleton of the beat himself for the initial direction before collaborating with the group’s live musicians to complement the sound and, in certain cases, redo the track live. In stark contrast to The Takeover, which saw Amp and Zumbi e-mail verses and beats to each other to constantly tweak each song, the group and their collaborators engaged in days-long jam sessions, for the first time in their career, to best enunciate Amp’s initial idea.
For Zumbi, the writing style on Atomic Clock was much more instinctive than on past albums, and the result is a litany of emotionally introspective, brutally honest songs that both relay the emcee’s personal experience and delve into weighty topics including the transient nature of time. This extends to the title. “The Atomic Clock is the most precise timing device on the planet and I thought that applied to the immaculate timing and rhythm it takes between musicians in one room to make good music,” says Zumbi. “But also, I feel that time is speeding up on the planet and it seems like it’s dilating and contracting really quickly. We’re living in such an interesting time and I think time is on everyone’s mind in one way or another. Everything is exponential now.”
KILL THE VULTURES
KILL THE VULTURES vocalist Crescent Moon and producer Anatomy moved from Minneapolis, MN to NYC in September 2001 at the age of 19 with the now disbanded hip-hop group, Oddjobs. They spent the next few years learning the ropes by touring with groups like De La Soul, DJ Shadow, Talib Kweli, Atmosphere, Lyrics Born, Buck 65, Brother Ali, and Zion I, as well as headlining several tours. They also released records and toured as part of the Third Earth hip-hop crew, whose other members were Jean Grae, Mr. Len of Company Flow, Masterminds, Jugganknots, and Sub-Conscious.
MIKE DREAMS
Mike Dreams (born as Michael Alexander Hannah on November 13, 1988) is a Minnesota-based Hip-Hop Artist & Writer. He grew up on the south side of Minneapolis, MN and began getting interested in hip hop music at an early age. As a kid, he performed in many of Minneapolis' community talent shows at local libraries, parks and churches. As he continued through his Jr. and Sr. High School years, he became a poetry writer, being published in national anthologies and gaining nominations for Amateur Poet of the Year on multiple occasions.
