It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop

Regardless of what you see on TV or hear on the radio, there are rappers that are truly devoted to the art of hip-hop who use the music as a tool to open and expand your mind. Zion I, comprised of producer / DJ Amp Live and MC Zion, is a perfect example of a group who strive to be original and give the listener a new flavor on their audio palette. Now residing in the Bay Area, the two Morehouse College graduates found a niche that caters to their vision of street, but still conscious, hip-hop. Their energy and passion for the music can be felt through speaker cords, but is translated even better in their live performance. Amp Live took a minute away from the boards to talk about the Bay Area scene, and where hip-hop stands in the grand scheme of things.

What does the name Zion I stand for?
If you refer to Mount Zion in the Bible, it’s a place of refuge in the time of Armageddon, and like a place where people came together to escape. That’s what we hold our music as, like a place for people to come to when they listen to our stuff and escape where they’re at, and lift spirits up.

What made you guys want to move out to the Bay Area?
Well Zion had moved out here [to Oakland] after we graduated, and the music scene was just poppin’. This was like ‘97 or ’98, and the independent scene was growing. We had been making stuff in Atlanta, so he brought it out here, and people were buying it and liked it. So he told me to move out, so I checked it out, liked it and stayed.

Zion has this line on Deep Water Slang where he says “people get scared when you’re hollerin’ rebellion.” Can you explain more on that?
They don’t get scared if you’re hollerin’ it at a certain level, but if you get big, like on a 50 Cent level, people would be real scared.

What does that say about the hip-hop market or industry?
I mean, really it’s a reflection of the government and society because it’s the media that is controlling things. You know it’s more than just the hip-hop industry. Like it’s hip-hop until you get at the, like, vice president of the company, and then it’s straight business. You got dudes in suits that don’t know anything about the music, and those are the people controlling all that. It’s more a comment on the way the machine works.

Are you guys in a situation where you have to pitch ideas to a group, or do you have all the creative control?
Overall we have creative control, but then it’s like you’re still pitching stuff to the same DJs and radio stations and shooting your videos for the same stations, so you still have to answer to the same people. You know I can make a song that says something, but then I can’t expect my song to be played along with somebody else’s.

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