11. Act-Phenom

The word is, that Pep Love has been working on his first album "Ascension" for seven years. And the stepping stones on the way to the now, have been being a Hiero since the early 90s, being part of The Prose (or as originally called The Shamen), having tracks on the "Hiero Oldies" tapes and the Hiero album "3rd Eye Vision". But that was then and this is the moment where Pep's anxiousness of giving us a whole album, finally can relax and witness the tree bearing fruit.

Pep opens the album with "Grime And Grit" that sounds traditionally Hiero. This opts to be an introduction to the facets that make Pep tick, him speaking of his visions, mixing explanation with elaboration and a mention of himself. In contrast, "Living Is Beautiful" is centered around the topic of expressing the true bliss of appreciating to live as part of the creation, having the chance to live a life one mind can mold to flawlessness. The next cut "The Grind" has us miss a better beat. This here is merely a dull hotel chain carpet. "The Fight Club" does succeed in this category though, with Evidence (we guess, our copy doesn't say) doing a barely bouncy track, that allows Pep to go for the less serious, him kicking some braggadocios rhymes. Babu (again: we guess) handles the slicing for the chorus, to round out this track.

Medieval sounds seem to be a preferred background, as they can also be heard on "US". Here Pep uses these sounds to talk motivated and self conscious rhymes, speaking about the human potential and the enhancing surrounding. This takes us to "What You Are", where Mediterranean guitars are inviting Tajaj (we think) to rhyme about the experience of becoming a father and the tribulations with the baby momma. Pep again then talks motivating and pointing out words, as he uses a exhibit 'a' to bring his point across. "T.A.M.I." is a love song, well, generally at least, and combined with Vangelis' "Alpha". This heartfelt moment is followed by a jazzier approach on "My Energy". Said jazz piano is then combined with steaming space sounds, while Pep uses physics lingo to once more talk in motivated terms.

What then takes us to the title track "Ascension", where Chicane like guitars are made sounding Japanese, to then be combined with a nifty drum pattern. Hearing this dope beat, you have to realize that we haven't yet been treated to too many of that. But our complaint seems to have been taken into consideration, as "A New Religion" is blessed with another cool beat, this time staying jazzy. What first appears to be a street report then changes into a reality report, where Pep trades verses with The Grouch, further elaborating on the total of his added views. In fitting contrast "Act-Phenom" is quite light hearted. This beat is fly and Pep even goes for some punchlines, making this a holler along track.

And we are seemingly in the better half of the album, as "Pacific Heights" is another track that leaves us splendidly satisfied, with another good beat taking care of that and Pep's investigating and passing the information to what conclusions he came, thinking about his home area, along. Moving on, we get a fake ones dismantling track, with "Karma (The Snake Charmer)". The flute on here once more does it for us. So we pleased leave it behind to check out "If You Can't Beat Em". Here the intend was to create something intense, with guitar sounds, that appear like played on the keyboards. Now Pep also struggles to connect with the beat, before Casual is providing the back up, making sure that folks will second think their initial plan to cross these two cats. Pep once more keeps on throwing battle weapons on "Different". The beat is pleasantly kept bare, with only a guitar and few strings adding anything like distraction. Now that then only leaves us with "Black People (Melanin Magnetic)", where Pep returns to his more conscious self, giving us another inspirational track.

This album unfortunately gives us beats that at about 40% of the time, are not able to keep pace with quality of the spoken part of the records, as lyrically this album is bliss. Pep is taking care of many intense thoughts, giving us plenty of food, preventing starvation for quite some time. And so Pep succeeds in bringing himself and his views closer to the audience, what might even be more props deserving, considering that the vehicles the verses travel on, happen to be on the brink to a break down, half the time. Nevertheless, the Hiero camp is returning with a record that will please the fan base, as well as allow it to spread its impact further.