Point Ash

Creativity can be a lost quality in today’s music and while there is a lot of inspiration for many songs to be written how to convey them in a creative way is sometimes tricky. Point Ash in his cd “Sight beyond Sight” conquers this obstacle and gives the listeners a definite message, splashed with humor and entertainment laced with hot tracks.

Point Ash hails from the Steel City Gary Indiana and his partner and main beat maker Pastuh Stu is from the Windy City, Chicago. Ash is half of the production team “Faith Grind.” Now right out of the gate I noticed that Point Ash and Pastuh Stu had a real love for not only Hip Hop but also music in general. The first track shows a big part of the duo’s personality and their sense of humor. The cd starts off with a funny little song introducing you to Point Ash and the journey begins. It’s funny how the first three tracks kind of get you ready for the rest of the cd. Track two called 100 Proof Christ definitely has a Funkadelic Parliament feel to it but the chopped and screwed hook leaves you with a true sense that this is still a hip hop cd, the mix just works.

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I must say I was highly impressed with the production of the cd and the quality of the tracks. I knew by track four that these brothers were serious about their sound and I have to give it to them it’s pretty much a flawless piece of work production wise with a wide range of style and true diversity. They bring a freshness that’s needed in Christian hip hop today with gritty tracks like “We About 2” and lighter melodic tracks like “My L.O.V.E. Song” got to give props to the “Faith Grind” team for coming through with some solid joints.

Now while Pastuh Stu is the main producer for the group “Faith Grind” I must move to the emcee and spokesman for the group Point Ash. So what does Point Ash mean? Well this is Ash’s interpretation of his name. POINT (as a noun) is any definite position; (as a verb) is to direct attention to or indicate the presence or position of something. ASH is a derivative of the word Asher, which is the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel meaning “Happy”. If you combine the two words together you get someone who is excited about directing anyone to the true King and Master of The Universe, Jesus Christ. Well that’s sure the vibe you get from this project.

This brother is dope and I advise all emcees coming out with mixtapes who are looking for some hot new talent to display or someone just to maybe do some collaborating with to check out Point Ash. Ash is a mix of Andre 3000, E40, George Clinton, look his style is just dope. When I received this cd for review I had never heard of Point Ash or the Faith Grind Crew and after listening intently to this album it’s definitely one to check out. I would classify Point Ash as a lyricist like I haven’t heard in a while because he uses words cleverly and really tells a story making his words come to life.

While the whole project is really solid there are some standout songs. ”Sight Beyond Sight” is one of them and is like a prayer asking the Lord to give a sight beyond what our mere human eyes can see. “Turn up the Heat” is definitely one that stands out musically and lyrically with a sound that displays what Point Ash calls MidWildWestWeird wrapped in comic book pages and chicken grease the track is just crazy. Nothing But Blessed featuring Aisha Harris is definitely one of my anthems for this fall. The other songs well you’ll just have to check out for yourself. Another thing that stood out about the cd is that the features were really high quality. The singers that Point Ash picked to sing hooks and just groove out the cd were really good. Sometimes it can be hard blending good singing with hip hop but Ash does a great job of this with features from Aisha Harris, Dem Simmons Boyz, Dwayne Coleman and Seven.

Want to hear something that you probably haven’t heard before well Point Ash’s “Sight Beyond Sight” is one that you will not be disappointed in. I think we are going to hear a lot more in the future from Point Ash and the Faith Grind team. I give this cd 4 stars because of it’s high level production, mixing and mastering is done well, clever lyricism, valid Christian message and high entertainment level. The only knock I had with the project was that there are only eleven songs and I’m not used to having so few tracks on a cd but as I listened a little more and got into the music I thought, if these are the eleven songs they picked out our their catalog of songs then they really did a great job choosing songs that were hot. Since there are only eleven tracks the cd doesn’t get dull and you don’t loose interest, but it does leave you wanting a little bit more.

To hear some of Point Ash’s music go to www.myspace.com/pointash and also to hear some more of the production from the Faith Grind team hit up - DASOUTH.COM written by Wil Addison