Cosmic Germantown-to-West Philly rapper, composer, collaborator and producer Hezekiah Davis III – known to the locals and the nationals as Hezekiah – has done his due diligence in his time, and worked on acclaimed records from friends in the area (Bilal, Freeway, Bahamadia, Musiq Soulchild) and those beyond the 215 (Eric Roberson, Talib Kweli, Zap Mama). Best still, however, is when Hezekiah works and thinks for himself, on all-aspects of a self-generated multi-media project such as the November 13 book and new music release, The Universe Does Not Reward Fear.
Not unlike his 2015 debut self-directed short film and accompanying soundtrack, Dreams Don’t Chase Themselves, Hezekiah’s The Universe Does Not Reward Fear seems to come from the place of wishing for holistic calm amidst the social strife that is both his life, and that of his fellow Philadelphians.
“We come in the name of Peace, love unity and having fun,” Hezekiah writes on his new Bandcamp release page. “Knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Note: there’s no peace love unity without knowledge wisdom and understanding only then can we all have fun.No hate, not Mad . Just frustrated. Inner peace.”
To that end, The Universe Does Not Reward Fear is what Hez wrote to help him get through.
“Let’s keep going.”
Hezekiah once told me that his music, albeit futurist and forward-facing, has long been a reflection in the mirror of the whole Native Tongues crew, referring to the late-80s/early-90s hip-hop collective that included conscious rappers such as A Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, and KRS-One. “Like Q-Tip (of Tribe Called Quest) said, ‘The job of resurrectors is to wake up the dead.’”
The Universe Does Not Reward Fear is very much a wake up for all in the present day, while sonically looking backwards and forwards all at the same time.
To go with his new material, Hezekiah Davis is offering unique opportunities – at Bandcamp – to get in on the art of the deal, with differing levels of his subscription series, which not only include his newest and upcoming music, but past product such as Step Up Your Bars, the Totem 2.0 EP, and more.
If there was ever a time to do some (3) Crates digging, it would be now.
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