WITH SOME HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS
Poems (formerly Sharlock Poems) of Christian rap mainstay L.A. Symphony, known for his distinctive baritone and metaphor-heavy style, has become a hotly sought after guest MC on a variety of other artist’s projects. Returning the favor, some of those artists have offered the boost in music and production Poems needed for
Blooming Sounds to surpass his uneven solo debut,
The Love Movement.
On the tracks “Come On” and “Love,” general market faves The Procussions offer their unique jazz-driven, bass-throbbing West Coast wall of sound as the ideal counterpoint to Poems’ razor sharp wit. Critics’ darling Ohmega Watts teams ups with Poems on the hip-hop ode “The Elements”—an eruption of high speed break beats, drumrolls and organ hits that will give break dancers fits of joy.
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Throughout
Sounds, Poems draws endlessly from his faith, his difficult youth, his social conscious and his staunch passion for artistic originality. While mainstream hip-hop originality and sales have dipped,
Blooming Sounds offers the kind of creative metaphor play and shifting sonic textures (light jazz guitars, operatic soprano vocals, old school boom bap) that epitomize a banner year in the evolution of Christian rap.
-- Anthony Barr-Jeffrey