Hurry Up and Wait (Soulspazm Records), the critically acclaimed debut album from Hezekiah, Delaware’s hip hop producer/MC extraordinaire, was supposed to be an album title not a prophecy. Yet, in the five years since its landmark release, Hezekiah’s first full-length project has proven to be a rather frustrating prediction for an artist whose Philly pedigree with The Roots crew had him marked for greatness from day one.
From OkayPlayer to Pitchfork, a month into the release of Hurry Up and Wait, Hezekiah’s debut was just getting the kind of positive critical buzz every artist aspires to when suddenly, without warning the releasing label for Hurry Up… lost distribution. Without further distribution and promotion, a fruitful project, juicy with such luminaries as Santigold, Bahamadia, Grand Agent, and Scratch from The Roots crew, died on the vine. Now a cult classic, Hurry Up and Wait proved only the beginning of the Hezekiah chronicles, not the end.
Undaunted by the dream deferred, the former choirboy stayed true to his purpose and did exactly what his blue-collar upbringing taught him to do: roll up his sleeves and deliver something even meatier to feed those starving for the honest and the real. Released in 2007, I Predict A Riot (Rawkus Records) is a progressive hip hop classic. A-list producers like James Poyser and Scott Storch were hailing Hezekiah’s colossal talent and gritty social consciousness as a welcome antidote to the senselessly violent mediocrity permeating the game, while hard-nosed critics like The Guardian was giving I Predict A Riot four out of five stars and AllMusic.com was naming it one of their favorite “Hip Hop Albums of 2007.” With Hezekiah’s agile keywork, melodic compositions, soulful guests, and conscious lyricism, comparisons to iconic producers like J Dilla, 9th Wonder, and Dr. Dre were credibly being made by some of the toughest sells in the industry.
Just on the heels of becoming a household name, particularly in European markets, Hezekiah again became undone by a faltering label. Rawkus went bankrupt just as the project was hitting store shelves and I Predict A Riot again became Hezekiah’s second casualty to the biz. While the eerily prescient Hurry Up and Wait was seemingly a horoscope for Hezekiah’s MC aspirations, it certainly failed to reflect the man’s scorching production career.
Upon hearing how adroitly Hezekiah framed such Philly royalty as Bilal, Jaguar Wright, and Freeway as the leading producer on I Predict A Riot, Hezekiah was catapulted to the top of every roster’s producer wish list. The self-admitted “musician first” appropriately has credits on the liner notes of East Coast staples like Musiq, Aaries, J-Live, Bahamadia, Pharaoh Monch, Zap Mama, Eric Roberson, The Jazzyfatnastees and Aaron Livingston, with even more major production creds to come throughout the year. The sought-after producer’s streetscapes can also be heard as the musical co-producer on the Showtime original series, Street Time. The self-declared “music nerd” who grew up admiring artist producers like Quincy Jones, Barry White, and J-Dilla is well on his way to joining their ranks. Sometimes being a nerd pays off.
Being a superstar producer may pay the bills, but it doesn’t satiate the griot beast burning a hole inside of Hezekiah’s artistic soul. To feed the need, Hezekiah is roaring back to the mic this summer with his third release, the forthcoming Conscious Porn (from a renewed Soulspazm Records). Determined that the third time is the charm, Hezekiah is leaving little to chance by again working his newly refined warlock mojo both in front of and behind the boards, with a little help from producers Steve McKie (Estelle, Jill Scott) and Street Orchestra (Baby Blak, Eshon Burgundy). Hipster faves Raheem Devaughn, Peedi Crakk, Talib Kweli, Tu Phace, Cody Chestnutt, Aaron Livingston and Bahamadia each deliver star-turning performances under Hezekiah’s revealing Conscious Porn lens. Conjuring the spirits of soul and funk influences like Otis Redding and Rick James while infusing the phrasing of such disparate rappers as Kool G Rap and Peedi Crakk into his distinctive flow, with Conscious Porn Hezekiah is out to prove he’s the kind of artist that has ecstatic crowds shouting “You gotta hear this!” and throwing their cells up to his electric skies.
From the man’s whose scrappy come up began in ‘93 with the legendary Roots crew, Hezekiah is the evolution of conscious rap, if with hood sensibilities. The urban sounds of Conscious Porn are in the vein of Beanie Segal and Native Tongues, even a dash of NWA can be found salting Hezekiah’s musical cauldron. This mystical hip hop revolutionary is coming hard with Conscious Porn to claim the hearts and souls of all hip hop heads for a noble cause: the liberation of self, family, culture, and community.
A movement maker, Hezekiah’s also the director and co-founder of the Beat Society, a producer collective and interactive experience (www.beatsociety.com) that gives a much needed spotlight to hungry indie producers with that Midas touch. It’s a touch Hezekiah’s given to others time and again, now there is no more “hurry up” only to have to wait for his moment to shine; the wait is over. More than an artist, a producer, a director, a founder, a leader, a future Grammy winner, the father of Conscious Porn, Hezekiah is the truth whose time has finally come and this time all will know him.
