For many years Zion I has been bubbling on the underground rap scene without really getting the props they deserve. Unlike their counterparts such as Black Star and Dilated Peoples who managed to get widespread notoriety and acclaim within the hip hop community Zion I has been on the brink of a breakthrough for what seems like their entire career. The producer/rapper duo released their debut studio album Mind Over Matter in 2000 and have since released several more projects, always sticking to their conscious, introspective underground rap roots.
The second mini documentary from the Boombox Collection has been recently released and the duo is the subject of it. We get to see the duo as they discuss various aspects of their rap career and how they’ve managed to stay true to themselves and maintain integrity despite being prompted by their former manager (who also managed other successful artists) to conform to using words such as “n*gga” and “b*tch” in their music so that “the streets would f**k with [them] more.”
We also get to learn of the insecurities that the group’s vocalist Baba Zumbi had with his voice early on in life. He was so embarrassed of his voice that he used to wear clothes that would cover up his chest in a ploy to cover up where his voice originates from, seeing as it was very nasal and he didn’t like that.
The duo speaks on how important knowing the history of civil rights, Black Panthers, Martin Luther King Jr. and other political movements was in the early days of hip hop until the rise of NWA and gangster rap which changed the entire hip hop culture completely.
The Boombox Collection: Zion I is an eye-opening look at the resilience of the group and it’s surely one which will leave an impression on you. If anything you will probably end up respecting the rappers more for having the courage to choose integrity over money and fame; a choice that many artists fail to make today. Towards the end of the documentary Zumbi performs Trippin’, a song from the group’s debut album.
A statement uttered by Zumbi which I feel best summarizes the documentary is “I’m not the coolest, I’m not the trendiest, I’m not en vogue in this moment, I’m not in the club but I know who I am but I’m not afraid of that…it’s okay to be yourself, you don’t have to fall in line.”
