Pacific Division: All Time Fav

Ever since Sarah introduced me to Pac Div I’ve been totally mesmerised by their brutally honest hip-hop. She stumbled upon the California trio last October when they were named by Spin Magazine as one of the acts to watch out for at CMJ ‘09. I’ve been obsessing over their Church League Champions Mixtape for a good eight months and it’s become my most played hip-hop release of all time. You can still download the mixtape for free, here’s the link.

Pac Div has been promising us an album, but we’re still waiting and it looks like we’ll be waiting for quite a while longer. Thankfully they’ve given us a new mixtape, titled Don’t Mention It. Marz Lovejoy dropped a track from it three days ago and it’s sparked a chain reaction of internet hype. She features on ‘Shine’, the mixtape’s twelfth track and is one of several guests, including Ty$, Dom Kennedy and Chip Tha Ripper. Don’t Mention It is the perfect successor to Church League Champions, cut up with comedy, R’n'b, gospel and more booming hip-hop beats. Booming, minimalist beats; Pac Div don’t commercialise their sound, they keep it clean, focusing on wordplay. Sixth track ‘Overcome’ is the best example of Pac Div stepping up their game, diversifying into politics. Backed by a beautiful gospel harmony from a scratchy backing track the trio turn on the Obama administration, speaking about poverty and the realities of living in a recession where the poor are getting swept to the gutter and the capitalist regime’s survival package involves cutting jobs without offering a substantial solution to help the unemployed. It’s a powerful song calling for action, evoking memories of the civil rights struggle and reminding us that the fight for equality is far from over. ‘Here We Go’ carries a similar message, attacking the way America treats the underprivileged, questioning the government’s involvement in stereotyping the poor based on personal experience and using real life anecdotes. But even though there’s a political side to Pac Div, there’s also a side to Pac Div that is casual and unobtrusive, where they rap about chilling with their friends and visiting the local grocery store. CLC was based on these playful motifs so perhaps it’s a sign of the changing political climate that Pac Div has diversified into a more serious dialogue. What ever the reason, Don’t Mention It perfectly complements Church League Champions, proving that Pac Div has the ability to touch on issues important to the African-American underclass while still addressing more trivial subjects.

 Pac Div- Overcome: MP3

Pac Div- Shine (feat. Marz Lovejoy): MP3

Download Pac Div’s Don’t Mention It Mixtape for free

Pac Div- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under California, U.S.A