Zion I & the Grouch Are Heroes in the City of Dope

Mind over Matter Innovative and engaging, Zion I's Mind over Matter succeeds because of its impressive conceptual execution. The Bay Area trio of Zion, Amp Live, and DJ K-Genius set the tone with the old-school energy of "Revolution (B-boy Anthem)," reawakening hip-hop's subversive impulses. Spir...	Legendary Music Vol. 1 The Living Legends crew hooks you up with a special-price sampler for 2006 with one solo song from each of the crew members' upcoming solo releases for this year as well as unreleased tracks from G&E and 3MG. Volume 1 is a summertime prelude to the crew's official 10th Anniversary release!	The Undisputed Truth In the year 2000, Brother Ali joined the Minneapolis powerhouse Rhymesayers Entertainment with a self-produced demo called "Rites of Passage". Three years later Ali took the underground by storm with an undeniable stage presence and his critically acclaimed debut full-length ...	Street Legends	Creative Differences
Classic	True & Livin' Zion-I's new album, True & Livin', is the Oakland based duo's third full-length release. Organic soulful compositions, conscious and insightful vocal wordplay and lush strings, horns and bass lines comprise the fabric of their best album to date. In the vein of OutKast and The Ro...	When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold The prolific duo of Slug and Ant offer their sixth studio album, presenting their storytelling, songwriting, and musicality at its finest. Limited deluxe edition (25,000), packaged as a 40-page gold embossed hard cover book featuring an illustrated children's story written by Slu...	Almost Famous "Almost Famous proves a valiant spawning of collective collaborations, with each rapper offering a new door of wildly different stylings to explore in great depth." --- Peter Agoston "With an ironic ostentatious appeal, Almost Famous should go a long way toward establishing the ...	Eardrum In the "conscious" rap game, even mid-list mainstreamers tend to get all but shut out of the highest-profile vehicles for hip-hop (BET, MTV, urban radio). Among these, Talib Kweli remains that exemplary liminal artist, one foot in the artistic purity of his underground roots and ...

legit release
I am a fan of both Zion I and Grouch, and this album is way dope. I have albums by both artists, and this is different but overall greater than the sum of it's parts, which is saying a lot.

knew it was coming...
bad beats, weak rhymes. they can do so much better than this! if you're trying to get into either of these dudes pick up true & livin' from zion i, and making perfect sense from the grouch.

Good album...
Big Zion I fan... but this is probably the least favorite album of mine. The more i listened to it... the more it grew on me.. but... its nothing compared to their earliest albums. PLUS... i'm not to fond of the GROUCH. oh well, still a good cd... recommend it for true zion i fans.

Heroes In The City of Dope? They should run for mayor.
This is my first taste of both Zion I and The Grouch. I'd always heard good things about them, especially the former, but never really gave either a chance. I'll be honest in admitting that I've never been big on most West Coast emcees; there's a handful of exceptions(Murs, Game, Snoop, Kurupt, E-40, Del, Cube, Dre, Asia), but beyond that, the West has never really presented me with some of my favorite hip-hop cuts. While I know that there's three very different, and prominent styles in the West(Gangsta rap artists like Snoop, Bay Area/Hyphy artists like Mr. F.A.B., and the 'different' emcees like Del), I wasn't sure what to expect from either Zion or The Grouch. What I got was Heroes In The City of Dope; an album that certainly puts the emphasis on dope. The production on this album is magnificient. Flawless from start to finish. The majority of it was produced by the producer half of Zion I, Amp Live, who has a great range of diversity in his sounds. Getting soulful like Chi-town's best on tracks like Make You Fly, and bringing it to the Bay with Bad Lands, Amp Live constructs an album behind the boards that is sonically pleasing no matter what region you represent. Zion is an amazing rapper. I'll state that now. While The Grouch is quite an ill emcee in his own right, Zion is in a league of his own. Borrowing social consciousness that is similar in vein to fellow California emcee, MUrs, Zion manages to craft together a string of songs with a positive message, while also being able to shed some light on the topics he chooses, providing some humor in between. His vocal tone is very smooth, akin to Q-Tip in range, and his flow almost seems effortless in execution. The Grouch has a bit more raspy of a tone, but still sounds right at home alongside Zion's. A member of the Living Legends crew which includes the aforementioned Murs, The Grouch is a bit more cynical than Zion, but still presents a positive message, even when criticizing something such as the Hyphy movement. As a pair, the two share some incredible chemistry, something that is rare for two emcees who seem randomly placed together. This is best displayed in tracks like Current Affairs and Bad Lands, where both emcees go back and forth without missing a step. While every single track on here is certifiably dope, the stand-out tracks are still evident; lead single Hit 'Em features tight production that sounds like it could crossover given exposure, as well as an ill guest spot by Mistah F.A.B. Make You Fly features the elegant Esthero, who croons a beautiful chorus for the track; equally gorgeous is the beat Amp Live provides to it, and the pair of dope verses from both Grouch and Zion. Smack is another great track that shows the duo's chemistry, while Digital Dirt is a track that blames technology for some of society's current ills. Heroes In The City of Dope is an excellent album that any hip-hop head should have in their collection. There are absolutely no complaints to be made, and it's certainly recommended, to new-comers and fans alike.

Good cd
Takes some time to get use to, but after a phew listens. You really start to appreciate the music immensely. Track 2, 11, 15 are my 3 favorite songs. The rest of the songs are really well written and produced well. How ever those three songs are my favorite. Number, 11 is my new favorite song out of my whole collection of music, so far.