Reviewed by Steve Hayes

Sareem Poems, once of LA Symphony but now with five solo projects under his belt, continues with his effervescent mix of poems and beats and has been involved in various creative projects in the Detroit area. For this album, he's teamed up with French hip-hop producer Terem who took on the music and live instrumentation side of the album while Sareem Poems took on the writing and subject matter. The hopes of the artists for the album was to rekindle the feeling when they first heard hip-hop collectives like De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest. The album really does have that kind of feel, maybe best represented in the instrumental "Emotional Flood" but heard throughout (listen also to "Rhythm" with Ozay Moore). "Tic Toc" with a part spacey synths, part jazz vibe sees Sareem look at the clock, telling us to move on and seize the day. "After The Factory" takes a challenging look at Detroit and its semi-abandonment after the closure of the factories, seeing tens of thousands leave the city. Sareem then challenges Christians to be there for their fellow man and offers hope for Detroit. For every Christian, wherever they are the message is "take action". From beginning to end, Sareem Poems shows the skills of a master wordsmith, crafting poems and weaving wordplay together to reflect life, his personal life and the life of faith.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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