★★★★★
Genre: Hip-Hop Year: 2005 Country: USA Official Site: Zion I Details: Tracks & Audio Label: Live Up On their third entry, Zion I deliver their smooth blend of hip-hop and jazz, mixing instruments, scratches, samples and seductive melodies. Going beyond the limit of hip-hop with subtlety, each song incorporates elements borrowed from other musical genres, be they ethnic, world, electro, acoustic or classical sounds...
- www.plume-noire.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
Oakland hip-hop duo Zion I have been making music together for fifteen years. The duo has always been a balancing act: producer AmpLive balances hip-hop and electronic music with his beats, and rapper Zumbi balances conscious rap and party rap in his rhymes. Both men are new fathers who are struggling to reconcile their role as parents to their vocation as musicians and artists...
- rapreviews.com
2012-10-18
★★★★★
One has to tip their hat to Zion I's Amp Live for his fearless experimentation and the enthusiasm with which he approaches new genres. On Atomic Clock, Amp fuses conscious indie rap aesthetics with the world of dub and in doing so concocts Zion I's strongest outing since True & Livin. The use of live instrumentation creates an organic core from which the 13 tracks sprout...
- www.urb.com
2010-11-29
★★★★★
I was rather disenchanted to discover upon receiving this sampler that I already owned every album featured on it and it wasn't to promote any new Zion I music, but to alert people to the re-release of "Mind Over Matter", "True And Living" and "Deep Water Slang V2.0" through Gold Dust Media (part of the !K7 music group)...
- hangout.altsounds.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
The end is coming. Not the end of time, not even the end of the world some people believe is prophesied for 2012. The end of the ALPHABET is coming. Oakland, California duo Zion I may be last on your iPod list, but they've earned enough five star ratings since the late 1990's to still be near the top of any playlist. Classic albums like "Mind Over Matter" and "Heroes in the City of Dope" established Zumbi (formerly Zion) and AmpLive as a formidable rapper and producer team...
- rapreviews.com
2010-11-01
★★★★★
Zion I are hip-hop anomalies, capable of quoting KRS-One but unafraid of glowsticks. The future-minded duo of MC Zion and producer Amp Live traffic in an electronica-influenced boom-bap, mining soul samples and techno beats to create an exciting hybrid safe for ravers and rap fanatics alike. Despite some hoity-toity moments ("Poems 4 Post Modern Decay," anyone...
- www.blender.com
2010-08-22
★★★★★
Zion I is getting closer to the Promised Land; there's already enough milk and honey to go around on the smooth-flowing True & Livin'. Having pawned off slick drum-and-bass grooves for more soulful, organic jams, Zion I turns over a new leaf on its third album. More socially aware than ever before, the Oakland underground hip-hop duo sets out to raise consciousness with serious-minded, uplifting lyrics that get up and stand up for the rights of the disenfranchised...
- www.lostatsea.net
2009-10-30
★★★★★
It's really quite amazing how much hip-hop has grown and expanded in the last few years. Thankfully, this expansion isn't restricted to commercial hip-hop music and has also allowed more underground acts to reach a wider audience. The college radio circuit in particular has been an important resource for artists whose music doesn't fit the format of your average "hip-hop" radio station. I was first exposed to Zion I as a DJ and music director at a college radio station...
- rapreviews.com
2009-07-21
★★★★★
Year after year, record after record, Zion I continue to assert their position as one of the most underrated, consistently brilliant underground institutions in rap music. Exactly why have these Bay Area natives continue to hover far below the mainstream radar is a perpetual mystery, considering the ubiquitous commercial presence exerted by neighbours like the Freestyle Fellowship, the Hieroglyphics and the Living Legends...
- rapreviews.com
2009-07-21
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