Poems & Dust (PND) may be a name you’re unfamiliar with but let’s spread a little education for those who don’t know about this duo.  Poems was part of the seminal group LA Symphony, known for giving us such 12″ classics as “Broken Tape Decks” with another well known LA Symphony member, Pigeon John.  It should also be noted that Poems has also put out four, count ‘em, four, solo records, each equally nire entertaining and knowledge-filled as the last.  Dust, the man behind the boards, is known for his work with MARS Ill. You could probably hear his dusty break blueprints spread across on The Blue Collar Sessions.  Both have joined forces to form PND, with the result being their debut record, Dirty Words.

The production is made up of some similar work that you might have heard on Mars Ill’s Blue Collar Sessions, such as the horns and subtle guitars on “Lone Star”, while the bluesy guitars take the forefront on “Change”.  Whimsical flutes and pianos take charge on “Dig Deep”, while Hammond notes strike subtly on “Fly”. Elsewhere, acoustic guitars starkly strike along with those similar organs on “Grace”.  All the while, Dust lets punchy, plodding kicks and snares accentuate the record. And it presses along with head nodding production that delivers with emotion and passion. It’s here where the album truly shines.

Meanwhile, Poems definitely plays the role of the introspective dusty foot traveler, delivering his verses with an emotion and passion of a person who looks inward for the inspiration and delivers evocative thoughts throughout the record.  You can hear it “If You Wanta Know”, looking at where Poems stands in this culture.  On “Listen” is where Poems delivers urgency, while you hear more self-motivation in “Lone Star”. And on “Oz”, he reflects on his journey and his many travails, realizing that home is where the hatred and heart lies.  You also hear much more about Poems trying to inspire the listener on cuts such as “Power to the People” and “Will Not Be Sold”, both of which are the strongest statements on the record by far.

Overall, don’t take Dirty Words at face value.  In a sense, this album title speaks more to the message in the music rather than what the record might be about, and that is its innate ability to delivery empathy, power, and inspiration to the respective listener.  It is meant to be something of a mission statement to the truth it speaks, and to show off the never ending and limitless talents of Poems & Dust.  At the end of the day, this is revolutionary music needed in days and times such as the ones we are living in.

3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5 out of 5

Download: Sareem Poems – Skadaddle Cartoon Mix ft. Pigeon John & Akil (Nick Tha 1da Remix)

Hit the skip for The Boom EP Tracklisting and full artwork…

Sareem Poems
Album: Black & Read All Over
Song: “Lower the Boom” ft. Pigeon John & Akil of J5

The Boom EP
6 versions of Lower the Boom.
1. The Green Light Mix (IzzNyce Remix) ft. Kenn Starr & Oddisee
2. The Rude Awakening Mix (Oddisee Remix) ft. Kenn Starr & Oddisee
3. The Skadaddle Cartoon Mix (Nick Tha 1Da Remix) ft. Pigeon John & Akil of J5
4. 89 Civics Mix (Fabio Musta Remix) ft. Pigeon John & Akil of J5
5. Break the Mold Mix (Theory Hazit Remix) ft. Pigeon John & Akil of J5
6. Lower the Boom OG MIX

Christian hip-hop often seems stuck in a rut. Inherently a niche market, the few things I’ve heard by artists that brand themselves that way have failed to impress for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the production. For whatever reason, rappers with morals have a much tougher time finding music to back them and make their verses more than just positive lyrics. Enter Sareem Poems, a veteran of the L.A. christian hip-hop scene and member of the L.A. Symphony, who once counted Pigeon John as a member. Rather than going with local commodities, he instead enlists Ohio producer/rapper and Scribbling Idiots member Theory Hazit to team up with Maryland-area producer/rapper and Diamond District member Oddisee and produce his entire album. I will admit this is what had me most intrigued going into the album, and I also admit that it’s the biggest story coming out.

On the microphone, Poems is neither exceptional nor awful. He occupies that common area where a rapper is just good enough to listen to, but not captivating enough to carry a song on his own. The album has a promising start, as Poems and Theory Hazit trade Black Star-influenced rhymes on “Come Get It”, backed by a really obnoxious beat driven by bells and a double bass hit that’s repeated far, far too often. Theory and Oddisee return to the same 808 on “See It” to vastly different results, rolling it along a playful set of synths, providing an open field for Poems and guest Georgia Anne Muldrow to work over rather than the minefield of “Come Get It”. As I said before, these sorts of juxtapositions appear again and again production-wise, and one can almost get the feeling some tracks were more of a Theory Hazit production (“Come Get It”, “Lower the Boom”) while others have more expressive drum programming reminiscent of Oddisee (“Tell It”, “See It”). The give and take between some beats compared to others can really be frustrating. Another great collaboration with a wandering, abstract female vocalist appears with “Windows to the Soul”, covering a familiar topic of growing up in a violent home with perplexing enough presentation to compensate.

Despite being a hip-hop album with Christian inspirations, it’s never very overt and most of the time subjects could easily be mistaken for token underground rapper vs. whack rapper raps. Along with the at-times shaky quality of the production, this leads to an album that’s a little hard to sequence and ends up sounding a little

generic from front to back. “Unless You Do” is one of the few changes of pace on the album, as Poems advises women with ugly legs not to wear jean skirts while bragging about his own “jort-ass jeans” and generally cutting a block party record. “She So So” continues the change of pace, and like “Tell It”/”"See It” before can’t help but raise the question whether Oddisee and Theory Hazit truly shared production credits, or they just said so to be convenient and earn Theory some props. Poems definitely sounds his best over these more soulful, energetic beats though. It’s a real shame he didn’t get more production like that all around, which leads to my second biggest pet peeve here: the production of Sareem Poems’ voice. There are times where it sounds echoed or doubled in some other way, and rather than make his voice clearer over the bass, it instead gets distorted slightly and harder to understand. It also adds to the budget feel of tracks like “Go Ahead”.

For some songs, the mileage you can get is dependent entirely on your adherence to Him and rappers that criticize the hip-hop world based on His word. “Impossible” contains an anti-weed verse that’s more detailed than most, and I just don’t get behind that. If you do, I repeat that there’s little to really oppose yourself to here. None of the tracks lack a redeeming quality or two, and at 51 minutes long the album escapes becoming an endurance test for those of you on the fence. The production on the last four songs blows away the rest of the album, and thus I’m left with a better impression of Poems than when I came in and that’s appreciated. It’s never fun to end an album on a sour streak. He is slightly outshined by both features on “More Then Seen” but carries the others himself. Ultimately, I’m not sure how much of this album’s problems can be blamed on talent rather than budget, but I do know the combination of both values here leads to one of those albums that sits so balanced atop the fence between mediocre and good that it will really come down to your personal preference for morality-, religion-based hip-hop.

Kenny Fresh

Download: Sareem Poems feat. Akil (Jurassic 5) & Pigeon John – Lower The Boom