Reviewed by Mark Sherwood

It's good to see quality home-grown hip-hop and South London-based Peace is on a mission aimed at the nation's youth. He is particularly concerned about gun and knife crime hence the album title which refers to a piece - slang for a gun - or the peace that God offers. This idea of offering the youth alternatives is a theme that runs through the album. J Peace is an accomplished rapper while musically he weaves a wide variation of beats and even incorporates jazz ("The Champion") and rock guitar stylings on ("I Am Who I Am"). The album kicks off with "Simon Says" which cleverly uses kids singing the chorus and Peace rapping about the innocence of kids' playground games when our streets were safer - now the games have got deadlier with gun/knife warfare. On "God and I", which has a really interesting video which can be viewed on YouTube, Peace really tackles tough questions in a style reminiscent of the Book Of Job where he questions 9/11, cancer, etc. Very different and very clever. Peace also shines on what has to be my favourite track "Slow Down" which also showcases the vocal talents of Brooke Bailey. Having said all that, I do have questions about the intention of the song "Successful". While I agree with the fact that God wants to see success in our lives - it is how that success is defined here that worries me. Peace and others take up the mic and define success as "fast car, big house and a swimming pool". Oh dear.

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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