Conscious Sacramento Hip-Hop

By Eric Davis

Z To The E & Black Canvas

Sacramento is home to a lot of great music scenes, and its Rap and hip-hop community is one of the worlds finest. From the dark and deadly lyrical boogiemen Brotha Lynch Hung, X-Raided, to gangster rapper Uzer’s hyper flows in Russian, one might get the impression that Sac is just one chalk out line after another.

But what about it’s conscious hip-hop and party music?

One lyrical genius and his band of mic slayers have got you covered on both bases. Nuremberg, Germany is probably the last birth place you’d think one of Sacramento’s hottest MC’s would claim, but stranger things have happened.

“I think German being my first language was a unique experience. My father hadn’t been in the military long when I was born. He would spend a lot of time away from home. I grew up around my mother’s family and since no one besides my mother spoke English I ended up speaking German. I think it was an advantage for the simple fact that I kind of was living in two worlds…going to school speaking English…but when I got home I would speak in German,” Z to the E explains.

This German export is a member of the Hip Hop collective Black Canvas. He is also one of Sacramento’s best M.C.’s “Black Canvas is the foundation!” he stated with fervor when I got the chance to talk with him. “It basically came to be when my friend NTT (Kevin Jenkins) was working on an album, and he wrote a song called Black Canvas in 2002. Up to that point I had been working with him on music for about four years, and we had started doing music with some friends I had known since high school, Mystereese (Nick Reese) and ADR (Adrian Montgomery). Through ADF we met Numurus (Juan Salazar).

We had our first show in 2003 at the K Bar in Sacramento and went with the name Black Canvas MC’s and it just stuck. About a year or so later, through ADR,

Substance and Lotus (Jeff and Jennifer Barton) also became part of the Black Canvas Family.” Zion I, the Grouch, Pep Love, Casual, and Righteous Movement are just some of the names in hip-hop that Black Canvas has performed with. “From ADR’s production down to the lyrics and the wonderful singing voice of Lotus, the message we want to convey really comes through.” Z To the E disclosed.

“ADR also has a solo album entitled Magnetic Music that you can get at cdbaby.com. Mystereese is up in Washington right now working his way back down to Cali.”

” In the mean-time he has been staying sharp with his art skills. He did the artwork for the Kindred Spirits as well as the cover art for the Weapon of Choice album and the Go Smart mixtape. He’s also working on the cover art for a side project I’m working on. ”

NTT is wrapping up his solo effort entitled Diverse Spittin. “I like to call him the architect, because a lot of what we do as a collective goes through him. We do a lot of recording at his house; he also does most of our mixdowns so the songs sound right. I owe a lot of evolution as a rapper to him.”

Black Canvas and Z to the E have a unique Sac sound. A sound, that like the Bay Area hip hop scene, has been going strong for two decades now. “I believe that the Bay Area and Sacramento rap scenes have been going strong for so long now because they’ve developed a mentality of ‘We don’t care what you think.’

The Bay has had artists that don’t get the shine they deserve.

“Look what E-40 has done for the rap game. Yet when you hear about contributing artists for hip-hop, he’s rarely mentioned. Brotha Lynch Hung from Sac as well. Both of them have been greatly influential to the way I go about creating songs. The Bay Area exudes a sense of self-confidence that you can hear in the delivery. From the slang, to the look, and the diversity of acts. From Hieroglyphics and the Hobo Junction, to the Click and the Luniz, its all so different yet there’s that underlying tone of knowing what you are doing is going to rock the crowd. The Sacramento scene has Brotha Lynch Hung, C-Bo, First Degree, The D.E. with very dark content, but unique when compared to other acts.”

Z To The E thinks both Sac and the Bay Area are being overlooked in the hip hop community. “That is always the feeling I come away with.”

When I asked Z to the E what he thought about the current state of Rap music and lyricism he seem to be speaking for a lot of hip hop fans out there. “I find It hard for a person who calls himself a rapper to say he’s better than you or whatever when he hides behind a beat. Its very easy for you to get you song played if the beat is knocking. That goes without saying.

If the beat gets your head moving you’re going to listen. But there are a lot of artists out there now that couldn’t be in a battle. I also see this as people not caring as much about that aspect.

I think hip hop has always gone through phases, and right now its just on a lot of ‘look at me’ songs. ‘I have this, I have that’, which is cool I guess, but not really my thing. In general I think hip hop is starting to get more respect than it has in years past.

The past couple of years have seen not only movies being made that center around rap (8mile, Hustle and Flow) and have won Oscars. Whether you like the songs and artists or not, you have to respect it and look at it as a beautiful thing, this just opens up doors to more opportunities for the hip hop.”

Check more of Black Canvas and Z to the E www.myspace.com/blackcanvasmcs