Melbourne’ underground hip-hop scene gives us Pez, 24 year old emcee Perry Chapman, with this his debut album produced by multi-instrumentalist Matik, with contributions from members of TZU, The Cat Empire and Blue King Brown. The contributions sit well with Matik’ production style, preferring accomplished musicianship and songwriting to hip-hop’ usual ego driven flow and boom-bap beats. Pez chooses to sing about life experience, unfulfilled dreams, childhood nostalgia, political disconnection and unconditional love, in my opinion giving him longevity in the scene, a scene rife with bombastic emcees on the self promotional wagon.
A stand out track, These Days, with backing vocals by Hailey Cramer from Blue King Brown, riding over a fantastic acoustic guitar hook, and Pez delivery an urgent tale. The acoustic guitar is favored again on The Light with Seth Sentry, evoking an unsettled mood of hope. Speak Out offers wise words in a changing political climate, while Shine reinforces the need for change, and reminds us we do have the power to change things for the better. Lost warns of a rocky road in the industry, the trappings, the false truths, the reality of life. Pez has a lot to say, and he makes the most of these fourteen tracks, cementing him as one of the new breed of Australian emcees that should be watched closely. An accomplished debut, well worth checking out. www.myspace.com/emceepez
Wayne Stronell
