Just before New Years, my Ex's brother passed along a copy of Zeph & Azeem's Rise Up. I didn't pay much attention to it, but then again I was going through a phase of blandly skipping over all the songs on my iPod except the really really sad ones I could sit and brood to.

Apparently, DJ Zeph & Azeem are from the Bay Area. Shit, they even look like dudes I've probably sat in a bar with. The music wavers between your basic hip hop and a more sampled/synthesized/electro-dub-hop. I'm a fan of samples... if done well. Really. They can bring so much to the table, as long as the song doesn't make you go, "wow, that sure is just a bunch of samples." At their best, they can add the sense of humor or the subtle homage that keeps a track from falling flat. See? I heart samples. [[[Aside from a violin and a guitar, my favorite "instrument" in oh... 4th grade... was a horrid 4-Track I used to play back clips of other songs through a pair of headphones plugged into the 1/4"-input on my guitar amp. I call that DIY Backup Singers. I later moved on to figuring out my still-a-favorite KORG Electribe ES-1 and the epicly-convoluted Roland DR-202 (but shit... I got that for free at work in exchange for writing 5 pages about how horrible the interface is). Bit I digress...]]]

REMIX calls Zeph & Azeem "One of the dopest hip hop duos since Eric B & Rakim." Let's just say I know some people who worked at REMIX, and, I wouldn't go that far. But they're growing on me. They've been around the block a bit, too, so if you haven't met, introduce yourself.

"Ay Mami!"

A "Start the Commotion"-vibed instrumental. I'm into it. It should be the background of some epic, twisted disaster/climax in an overly hip casino/diner/coffee shop movie about impossibly good looking twenty-somethings.

"Play the Drum"

I want to play the drums in such a crazy way that everyone around will say, "You ought to hear him play..."

"Everything's Different (featuring Tut & DJ Teeko)"

The phrasing reminds me a bit of Blackalicious' "Alphabet Aerobics." Good soul/funk horns & shit in there, though.

Anyway. On to their MySpace.