Mar. 24, 2010 - Issue #753: Zion I

From the ground up

Zion I preaches for social change the same way the duo makes music

It wouldn't be quite proper to call Zumbi, the charismatic MC who is one half of Zion I, outspoken. He is not especially fiery or polemical, but rather a man with a simple but meaningful message who makes the most of his opportunities to spread it. He's the type of rapper who often gets labelled conscious, which isn't an inaccurate title, but really says more about a genre that too often gets away with airy nothings: more precisely, he writes lyrics with a point, and can back them up with well-considered opinions about what it means to be black in America.

But times are, of course, changing. Zion I rose to prominence in the past decade, one of the most tumultuous and frustrating for people of a progressive bent in general, and for those who turn their attention to the condition of urban black America in particular. In some respects, it was easy to point out what was going wrong, simply because there was so much of it. The past year has seen changes—most particularly, of course, Obama and the complications to African-American culture's portrayal that came with it. It's a different world now than when he started, but Zumbi is also careful to point out that symbolic change isn't quite the same thing as actual change.

"I don't think the attitude has necessarily changed," Zumbi considers when asked about the last year and a bit of his experience. "I think that people are more open about how they feel now. It's not politically incorrect anymore to talk about black people. The world changes in increments, obviously. But it's been a rough transition."

In Zumbi's view, no matter who is in charge, there is still a passivity, or maybe an ignorance, about what individuals can actually do to improve their situation, to work towards the change that so many sought.

"I feel like the people have to realize their own power more ... really it's these organizations and these opportunities in our own neighbourhoods where we're going to see real change," he points out. "I think once most of the people get their mind around it and realize that it's all about the collective action, that they're in charge, we'll start to see change. I think that anything can change, as long as people take their own initiative to assist one another. We can do things for ourselves. And I see that coming."

And Zumbi—as well as his partner, producer AmpLive—knows more than the average person about what it means to put your situation into your own hands. Maturing in the Bay scene that nurtured such independent all-stars as the Hieroglyphics crew and the Quuanum Collective, DIY is as born-in to Zion I's ethic as any other punk or indie scene. The group's career has been a lesson in not only how important taking your fate into your own hands is, but the success that can come of it.

Though Zion I has bounced on and off a few independent labels—the duo's full-length debut, Mind Over Matter, came out on the now-defunct Ground Control label, and its latest, The Takeover, found distribution on Gold Dust—most of Zion I's output has been on the group's own LiveUp Records, which hasn't stopped the duo from gaining worldwide attention. And even those label experiences were not the typical affair: press pushes are rare for Zion I's brand of forward-thinking, thoughtful hip hop, and most of the group's success—including the giant tours that have followed The Takeover, being exposed to more people than ever before—has been old-fashioned word of mouth and work ethic.

To talk to Zumbi, though, he wouldn't have it any other way. When your music isn't pushed into people's faces, isn't getting into video rotations or onto radio station billboards, it lends a more satisfying kind of validation: the kind that comes when you know that people are appreciating what you as an artist, and not the marketing department, are doing. It means that people are responding to the creativity, AmpLive's eclectic production and Zumbi's careful wordplay, and it's obvious that Zion I feels all the more appreciative because of it.

"It's a blessing," says Zumbi, "because in that way we can just be musicians. We can just go in and focus on what we're doing and try to create something good instead of creating an image of what we're supposed to be. I think we've been doing that our whole career, so it's just something where we have our own lane in that way. [With the response to The Takeover], it's been a very powerful experience. It's organic, the way people found out about it and the appreciation that we're getting for it." V

Sat, Mar 27 (9 pm)
Zion I
With Red 3, Kazmega, DJ Twist
Pawnshop, $25

 

 

A BRIEF, ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ZION I

1997
The Zion I story actually starts much earlier than here: as one half of the group Metufour, they originally had a contract with Tommy Boy records in the early '90s, although nothing would come of the deal. Relocating to the Bay Area, producer AmpLive and MC Zumbi (who originally went by Zion), made their initial mark with their independently released, cassette-only debut EP, Enter the Woods.

2000
Though the intervening years would see Zion I release three more follow-up EPs, they finally burst on to the national scene with their debut full-length, Mind Over Matter, in 2000. Amp's forward-thinking production—which blended elements of electronic, world sounds and more traditional hip-hop so well few critics were sure how to classify the album—and Zumbi's flowing, socially aware lyrics set the template for future Zion I recordings, and earned the group a nomination for Best Independent Album of the Year from influential hip-hop publication The Source.

2003
Zion I ran into all-too-familiar distribution issues leading to their second full-length, Deep Water Slang, getting pushed back a full year, where it was readjusted and tightened, and emerged as Deep Water Slang v2.0. The delay didn't hurt the group's momentum, however, and as album sales started to catch up with critical respect, AmpLive continued to push his production, even including a simple guitar-picked beat on the bonus tracks, while Zumba refined his message and flow, incorporating smarter messages into more outwardly elated club bangers (though, as ever, actually hearing a Zion I song on the dance floor was an elusive experience).

2005
With the presence of fellow Bay Area-superstars Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Gift of Gab, as well as conscious/underground legends like Talib Kweli and Aesop Rock, 2005's True and Livin' announced Zion I as official members of the fraternity while also seeing them in a rare moment of settling. Here the directions pointed at on Mind Over Matter and Deep Water Slang feel arrived at, though the maturity is balanced somewhat by a lack of the group's early vitality and verve. It would be followed by the Japan-only release of Break a Dawn in 2006, though, a testament to the group's broadening global popularity.

2008
Zion I's 2006 collaboration with Living Legends MC The Grouch, Heroes in the City of Dope—taking its title from a Too Short song and featuring the group's fullest embracement of the then-burgeoning hyphy Oakland sound—continued garnering the group critical accolades, but made less of an impression on the public at large. Such was not the case with AmpLive's unauthorized Rainydayz Remixes of Radiohead's In Rainbows. Thanks to a cease-and-desist letter from Warner/Chappell (despite the fact Radiohead famously released the album themselves), Amp's bedroom project turned into a cause celebre against label bullying and a worldwide success.

2009
Perhaps reenergized by a very direct reminder of some of what they're up against, Zion I emerged rejuvenated with The Takeover. With wide-ranging production that speaks as much to the roots of African-American music as it does to glitchy, synthetic electronica and Zumba in top form, The Takeover has garnered Zion I more attention—from all corners—than ever before, perhaps in part thanks to the rest of the hip-hop world catching up to their eclectic and involved take. The group has alluded to the fact that heading into The Takeover, they were preparing their masterpiece, and if they never do anything better, they'll still have quite the accomplishment to hang their hat on.
 

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