True & Livin'

A great album here that transcends the current minglings of Rap music. Zion I brings it back to the basics and shows everyone how to do this right. This album is even better than their last one ("Deep Water Slang," which I loved)! The only thing I wasn't liking at first was the brevity of the songs. A couple extra listens and it was no problem at all; the album moves along swiftly and never gets tripped up. Amp Live lays claim once again as a top-tier producer with his work on "True & Livin'." Zion is a talented rhymer (and performer!), but Amp is undoubtedly the motor that makes this group excel past many current artists (mainstream and underground).
Once again, they employ a variety of live instruments to accompany their sounds. Amp sets off many melodic tracks, as well as some hard-hitting ones for Zion to complete. They include a lot of jazzy stuff too, which is nice to see back in Hip Hop again. Not a single song is disappointing on the album! Not a single one...
Zion's not as overtly spiritual this time around, but he does make a suprising number of political statements. The four guests are some of the best names in the game (Talib, Gab, Aesop Rock, and Del), and only add to the experience of the album. "Doin' My Thing" kicks it off in a jazzy and upbeat way, leading into the single, "Bird's Eye View," which is my favorite and one of the best songs I've heard in a while. It's completely beautiful! Big up Amp! The Hiphop as a woman metaphor has been overdone since Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R.," but Zion and Amp breathe a whole new life into it. "What U Hear" is my second favorite track, as Amp shines once again and Del comes wise and correct (and even deviates from his usual flow). My other favorite, perhaps, is "Once Chance" which has heartfelt lyrics and a nice jazzy sound with melodic keys at the end.
Elsewhere, "The Bay" should get you singing, and "Soo Tall" is uplifting all the blue-collar workers out there while Zion is crafty with the wordplay. "Luv" is very nice too in the middle of the two tracks I just mentioned. "Temperature" w/Talib Kweli is short, but almost perfect lyrically even though the chorus is a tad annoying (at first at least). Zion rips it over the hard drums on "Heads Up," and he and Aesop Rock speak directly to the middle and lower classes on "Poems For Post Modern Decay." The only one I'm not feelin' is "I Need Mo," even though it's still solid, and one of the best moments of jazz on the cd. They even take a couple chances with "Oh Lawd" and the short, political "Amerika," but they pull it off while giving the album some nice variety. "Oh Lawd" could cross over into the Blues charts if it got the proper promotion, and it sounds ooh so good! The hidden track, "Livin'," is the most spiritual one. Oh crap, I forgot to mention "Stranger In My Home" w/Gift of Gab. That's definitely one of the top 5 tracks off the cd, and they both play on an abstract concept over a beautiful symphony courtesy of Amp.
One guy below mentioned that he's mad because they kept this album underground and aren't trying to branch out to the masses. Well...boo hoo! The mainstream still isn't ready and appreciative enough of true authenticity to accept these guys. I saw Zion I's show recently and met them both briefly; they're not selling out any time soon. They truly appreciate the fans they've got. By the way, this just might be their definitive work so far. I don't have "Mind Over Matter," but this album is even more complete and cohesive than "Deep Water Slang." Although "Deep Water" may have had a couple more memorable songs, this album stands above! Best album of the year so far?...quite possibly yes. I was thoroughly pleased and suprised at the excellence of "True and Livin'," and now I offer you to share in this experience, whether you've heard them yet or not. Look up their tour schedule, they've still many dates left, and support them if they come to a town near you!

This album is the most cohesive and impressive of the Zion I oeuvre. The attention to detail is amazing. The beats aren't your typical repetitive underground hip hop beats with low production value. The beats all sound incredible, and build up to powerful, spiritual choruses complete with jazz solos, violins, and singers. It's one of the few hip hop CD's I have heard which builds so powerfully on each track.
There is no filler to be found on the album. Every track is well crafted, with guest appearances by legends like Talib Kweli, Aesop Rock, Gift of Gab, and Del. For those who have a problem with Zion's voice: I found it much less piercing on this album. He seems to have taken that into account, and he sounds better than ever.
If you want an underground album with the production value of mainstream music, the originality of underground, and the musicality of jazz, this is your album.
Check out: One Chance, Soo Tall, Birds Eye View, Doin' My Thing, and Stranger in My Home

There is one thing I miss on the album, and that's the breakbeat electronica that was so amazing on Mind Over Matter (such as "Inner Light"). I think that was a good direction for Zion I, and I hope they return to it in the future.

DWS was a move more towards going mainstream its a shame this new album was a step back to the underground. but this album is great. just wishing zion i would be more than the undergrounds best kept secret.

Laced with spiritual narratives ("Livin") and jazzy, organic soundscapes ("One Chance"), it comes as no surprise that Zion I would name their breakthrough third LP after both God (The True And Living Church) and Guru of Gang Starr's familiar catchphrase "true and livin' with a youthful vengeance." After receiving praise from The Source for their debut album, Mind Over Matter, and going relatively unnoticed with Deep Water Slang V.2.0, MC Zion and producer Amp Live have finally come of age on True & Livin'. By combining early nineties production staples - horns, bass strings ("The Bay"), synthesizers ("Next To U"), and trumpets - with post-millennium handclaps, climatic flows, and conscious war cries, Zion I have crafted an underground classic that transcends the genre's usually limited scope. Versatility is the key to True & Livin's success, as the duo rock cynical yet militant ("America"), funky and laidback (the aforementioned "Bay"), rapid-fire anthems ("So Tall"); peaking in creativity with the Phil Collins-meets-Lynyrd Skynyrd "Oh Lawd." Other moments of pure genius include "Stranger In My Home," where Zion and Gift of Gab observe hip-hop from the outside looking in; metaphorically getting the boot from their "home" by today's more popular, gangster emcees; and "Poems 4 Post Modern Decay," where Aesop Rock pleads for middle class necessities quickly diminishing under the Bush Administration: "My centipedes agree that every pedigree's entitled to that food, clothes, medicine; recipe of the vital." Vocally and flow-wise, Zion falls somewhere in between Tone Loc and Andre 3000, while Amp Live's beats rival that of Just Blaze ("Temperature"), Kanye West ("I Need Mo"), and of course, Premo ("Luv"). Like their influential counterparts, Gang Starr and Blackalicious, it's taken Zion I a few swings at the plate to reach their moment of truth, and you can bet that if True & Livin' carried the name of another, more established group, it would instantly be heralded as a classic. Don't sleep on the Bay Area's finest any longer. Cop this album today.