There’s a point in your life where your eyes finally open up to really see what’s going on around you. Whether it’s as you get older, or as a young child, you realize there’s things outside your little box. And you begin to see what’s going on around you and things that are happening to others. With political and social injustices going on all around us, it’s difficult to justify the current commercial music’s sheltered concepts of fun, the celebration of money, and sex. Bambu is an emcee from the United States’ West Coast that’s using his hip-hop music for a bigger purpose. Don’t get him wrong, he wants the sales. It’s just not for the sake of getting money, but so that his message can spread to everyone who has the opportunity of being exposed to his music.

Bambu uses his latest solo album, …I Scream Bars for the Children…, a 21-track album (18 + 3 bonuses), to give you a picture of what he’s seen in his life. Growing up in a broken household and amongst the lifestyle of street gangs, Bambu has been exposed to a lot of crime and death. And he wants to tell you about it. But what’s the big deal? Yes, West Coast gangster music has been established in the hip-hop world, but the difference with Bambu’s music is: he will tell you how it is, and then he wants you to do something about it. He doesn’t glamorize the life in the ghetto, but tries to explain where the anger and upheaval stems from. While the single, Pull It Back, calls for an extreme armed revolution against injustice, it’s his intense desire for change that really comes through in the lyrics. He wants the scene on his streets to change, as you can see again on Chairman Mao, where Bambu says:

“We don't need those cops, we need the hood on lock,
We need the murders of our people by our people to stop,
We need our money to recycle, keep the neighborhood rich,
We need to monitor the education-end of our kids,
We need the money to be evenly distributed out,
We need Ann Coulter to shut her mother-f mouth.”

But the album’s not all of the dead prez-type persuasion, as Bambu can also make you laugh and smile with his wit and inventive punch-lines. On Beach Cruising, we travel the streets of Watts on Bambu’s Beach Cruiser bike. Truth Serum is Bambu’s honest story about a difficult relationship that he narrates as if you’re sitting together in a bar.

While Bambu’s lyrical abilities are the main highlight on the album, the production on the album provides a stable base for him to build on. The variety of producers uses the simplicity of jazzy sounds that do well to allow Bambu to excel and play with.

Bambu’s intensity and passion could have you ready to start standing up for injustices. However, the talent that Bambu has as an emcee is definitely strong. He’s able to deliver lines in a polished way. Though intense and at times overwhelming in content, the music as a whole is great hip-hop and the production combined with Bambu’s delivery, will have you keep your head bobbing throughout.