Customer Reviews

Hip-Hop Meditations

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just drove from Santa Cruz CA to San Diego and brought this CD with me. I left at 4am on a Sunday, and my companion was a cup of hot chai-green tea. In the darkness of Steinbeck's Salinas, these meditations laid down some soulful beats. In the foothills and the sunrise, these tunes matched the geography, rolling hills and smooth bass lines. Above Santa Barbara, it mixed with coastal scenery. I saved the second half for the cement madness of humanity that starts below Ventura.

This CDS rocks. There are times on this platter: I feel like I am sitting naked in a fresh water, rainforest stream in Puerto Rico, puffing on a Cohiba; other tunes like I'm riding a well greased bike through Greenwich Village, midnight in July.

Mena's effort smells like fresh, cement on a construction site.

I just got this cd not knowing what to expect. I am so pleased I followed my spirit and got it. The music is excellent. The lyrics are powerful and full of meaning. It is spoken word hip hop, jazz, orisha chants,and funky beats to bring it together. But more than that, it is Pure Spirit. Only one request for the next one. Can a sistah get some Shango energy up in there. Cabio sele' Sango.
Ashe

As a long time hip-hop fan, it's hard not to be judgemental about the cookie cutter music being forced upon us. But just when I decide to retreat to my pre-1992 cocoon, I come across a dope artist that reminds me of why I love hip hop. Hip Hop Meditations gets back to hip hop's roots of drawing upon its surroundings and standing up for something beyond mere loot, which gets reflected here. Beyond the boom bap, Carlos draws heavily upon Afro-Cuban traditions, which considering hip hop's roots in the Caribbean, should be done more often. Speech from Arrested Development is a guest here, and I was intrigued enough to look him up and get reintroduced to a guy I thought had essentially retired from the game. (My bad). Carlos has a couple of new releases coming up soon featuring Zion I and Tre Hardson, formerly of the Pharcyde. I can hardly wait...

I am not much for writing reviews, but this record moved me. It definitely reminded me of Wyclef's Carnaval and Common's Like Water for Chocolate, but it also had some Mos Def flavor, I think I read something similar in another review. Not only is this is a conscious hip-hop record, but the Orisha praise is off the hook, my favorite song is #8 - Obatala(Meditation #2).
It's a shame such an incredible record is not on a major label getting pushed. You must own this record!!

Mr Mena is a new trendsetter in Orisha and Hip Hop music - now we have modern, all-American urban diasporic Orisha music at last. I got this CD with no idea of what the music sounded like. With Mr Mena, it's best to have no expectations and to open one's heart. It is Hip Hop, with African and Afro-Caribbean chants and beats thrown in there. There is some bata drums, lots of rap and urban religious poetry which honors the Orisha and ancestors, prayers to the Orisha or 'Santos Africanos' in Spanish, traditional Orikis in Yoruba.

The vibe is pure, inspiring, clean and spiritual, this is probably the most positive rap I've ever heard. Stuff children can listen to that we can instill positive, ancestral values on them through the music.

Way back in the day when the Salsa Singer India was actually a Freestyle singer, she came up with a hypnotic Techno trance song to the Orishas, Yemaya and Ochun. The song was Love and Happiness and was recorded under River Ocean. At the time I loved that jam, and being a newly initiate of the Orisha religion, and being a Puerto Rican born in the United States I finally found an anthem that expressed my Beliefs, and Devotion to these Beautiful Orishas in English. Since then I have searched for music for my Spiritual devotion, that was in unison with my true self, and I came across some Sintesis c.d.s which were pretty good, New Age music with a mixture of Lukumi Orisha chants. But since then there has been a void.

And then came Carlos Mena, and I have to say the man is a genius, a music Guru in the making. A mixture of Trance, Hip Hop, and praises to The Beautiful Forces of Nature that are the Orishas.

The most amazing tracks are for Yemaya and for Obatala. You know when music is good, powerful and moving when you get chills go down your spine.

The cd begins with the traditional Canto Pa Eleggua, the great messenger of the Gods, any music, prayer or invocation dedicated to any Orisha, one must first petition Eleggua the Child Trickster Messenger.

This is a Cd for the next generation of "New Age Hip Hop" music, a void that has been empty, and will grow, thanks to artists like Carlos Mena. What are you waiting for, rush and get this cd, meditate, light candles and a Good Cigaro to your Santos, dance, chill, be one with the cosmos, and Feel the Euphoria.

Having been a NYC hip hop fan for over 20 years, since the Funky Four plus One More, there is nothing more boring than the cash cow formula music on hip hop radio today. It's a scam for surburbia, they don't know any better, so they just keep throwing money at it. There is no message, no meaning and no real hard core beats. It has become a genre where you can maybe get 1 solid hard core CD a year (and we are going back many years now)at this point. Where are the old school, hard core beats, deep meaning to stimulate the music in the message??

Right here on this CD. One of the best of the year.