Reviewed by Paul Woodward

On the evidence of this mini album it is surprising that 'Louder' is his first to get any kind of wide scale distribution. He has earned a solid grounding in hip-hop over the last 10 years appearing on USA's biggest gospel rap radio stations and sharing the stage with many of its biggest American stars including New Breed and Phanatik. This shows by his smooth and fluent rhyming style. Each track on the album is given a slightly different direction due to the array of talented guest vocalists including Ill Harmonics and Sharlock Poems (LA Symphony) among others. On the strength of the first and last tracks on the album, the only two where he performs alone, he can hold his own, these being arguably the album's two strongest tracks. The rousing opener "Louder" make the listener want to crank their stereo up just as the title suggests. The album covers a host of topics both social, political as well as spiritual. Jacob even has a pop at the Bush administration on "Amen": Bush got the country under a spell, powered by the forces of hell," Izrael declares. Highly controversial the other side of the Atlantic if not here. Izrael has recently started his own independent record label -one hopes this will allow him to distribute his material globally. It deserves it.

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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