Zion I have long been a staple of the Bay Area hip hop scene. Ever since the release of 2000’s critically acclaimed debut Mind Over Matter, the duo’s adventurous sound has the Bay Area hip hop tradition of exploring new musical territory.
With the duo both recently becoming fathers, their latest album ShadowBoxing marks a transition for the two as they transition into becoming parents, a change Zumbi admits was initially tough. I spoke with Zumbi by phone to find out a bit more about the inspiration behind Zion I’s latest album and gain some insight on how much or how little things have have changed.
Can you speak on the title of Zion I’s upcoming release, ShadowBoxing, which you’ve been quoted as saying is about “seeking awareness in the darkness of one’s own psyche”?
Well, mainly I had a son. He’s almost two years old. The first nine months to a year of him being in existence was a big transitional time for me. I heard all the stories but it just didn’t register for me for awhile. Around the ninth month, [I just came] to the full realization that he’s my son and I have to be a good model for him to be successful in his life. It made me really look at a lot of the negative things I was doing in my life.
I feel like in general, I’m a pretty positive person on the outside, but I feel like on the inside, I still wrestle. I had to let go of a lot of the nonsense. It was just trapping me. I just had to really look at myself, and it was definitely a challenging period, but I guess the music was the perfect way to channel a lot of those things I was dealing with and thinking about.
I know [Amp Live] is dealing with a lot of similar stuff because we’re new fathers. He has two kids now. It’s just a transition, coming into full adulthood, and I thought it was appropriate. I’ve also been doing tai chi in the last year pretty hardcore, and it’s really given me a good foundation for making a lot of these changes that I talk about on the record. Shadow boxing is the original name for tai chi, so I thought it all linked up together pretty well.
This album carries a bit of an EDM influence. It’s particularly apparent on “Trapped Out” and “Re-Load.” Zion I has always been willing to branch outside typical hip-hop confines, so what was it about that sound that made it a through-line for this album?
It’s interesting because [when we were] making this record, we didn’t really set out to say “Alright, we’re gonna do something that sounds more like dance music.” That’s actually something we usually do with our albums. With this record, I was like “Amp, let’s do some slap”—that’s what I call bass, heavy 808’s and kicks. He started sending me these tracks, and I was like “Yeah, exactly!” That’s the dope thing about working with him too. I know he’s gonna do something fresh, so I don’t really have to trip. We just kind of started making records and I think [the sound is] kind of just what [the producers] were feeling.
With the prevalence of Lil B and tracks like LoveRance’s “Up!” gaining national attention, what’s your current take on the state of hip-hop in the Bay Area compared to where it’s been?
It’s interesting because you have a lot of guys who have this big, pop sound. HBK Gang, LoveRance, Iamsu!, Erk tha Jerk and even Traxamillion, they have this Bay thing but it sounds like you can’t tell where it’s from. It doesn’t sound like Atlanta. It doesn’t sound like Chicago. It sounds like the Bay but with all these different influences from the South and even rapping a little bit like the East Coast. It’s just interesting to me.
I think the Bay Area is in a good place right now. There’s a lot of young guys who are dope spitters who are coming up. I’m eager to see that because I feel like for a long time the Bay Area was pigeonholed as either really super backpack or gangsta music. I think the new crop of cats are a hybrid of both. They’re not really super street although they kind of deal with it a little bit, and they’re not really nerdy, hip-hop purists either. They’re kind of walking in between the lane, and I think that’s really what it’s about—being yourself and doing what you feel.
On one album cut “We Don’t,” you once again link up with Grouch and Eligh. What is it about that partnership that’s continually yielded good results for all parties concerned?
Sometimes you just trip up and find something good on the street. You just walk off and you look down and there’s $10 bucks on the ground, and you pick it up and you say “Damn, thank you.” You don’t know where it came from or why, but it’s just a good thing. That’s pretty much how our relationship with those guys is.
We met Grouch when we made “Silly Puddy” on Mind Over Matter, and that was kind of random. I heard Living Legends, I heard Hiero, everybody, and I [liked Grouch] because he just sounded honest. Then “Silly Puddy” came out, and it’s still one of our most well-known songs 12 years later. People are still screaming for that in the middle of the set. It’s crazy to me. It’s like that song inspired all the rest of this, from the Zion I and Grouch albums to even collaborating further with Eligh.
What’s cool about them is they’re human beings who are striving for more in their lives. We sit down and have good conversations about life. We’re always talking about real issues in our lives, the struggles we’ve been through, and we try to encourage other people to get over their own hump or get through whatever challenge they’re being faced with. I think that’s kind of the glue of why we work together so well.
Zion I performs October 5 at Mezzanine and October 13 at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz as part of their ShadowBoxing tour. The duo’s mixtape, Bomb First, is available at jperiod.com/zioni.