It takes quite an album to make me tilt my head and think, “wait, what was that?” It also takes quite a record for me to get home and give it another listen. Z-Trip’s debut album, Shifting Gears achieves this and more, with a little shimmy shake of your rear to boot.

For anyone in tune with hip hop or it’s roots, the name Z-Trip should be familiar and comfortable. A staple in the underground, a known genius for his abilities to rock a live crowd, he’s spent years shaping his own identity leading up to this release.

Hanging around with people like Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5, DJ Shadow, Numark and Q-Bert will get you noticed, but the ability to smash together Tool and Joanie Mitchell in front of 100,000 people and get their fists pumping in the air and dancing: that’s what gets you remembered.

Now, normally an album with more than one “guest appearance” makes me groan. ALBUM FILLER is what this screams. Yet leave it to Z-Trip to shake the mold. In fact, the entire album does just that. In a genre so stale, so bloated and so high on itself, Shifting Gears is the first true breath of fresh air that I’ve heard in many years. To me, this might just prove to be the party people’s answer to DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing (an album I hold in complete reverence).

Running through the disc, in a cyclical pattern, Z-Trip’s vinyl weighs a proverbial ton. His serious, contemplative tracks show the knowledge-dropping element of hip hop (Shock & Awe, feat. Chuck D of Public Enemy, and Revolution Part 2). He also displays his dark and moody side (perhaps hanging out with Shadow?) with Everything Changes, Walking Dead and Revolution Part 1. But don’t forget the rump-motivating party tracks. Z-Trip pays homage to old school and new school hip hop with All About the Music and The Get Down, respectively. The hip hop tracks are fun and head-nodding, without being “too underground” that it makes it obscure. The instrumental tracks are mature, soulful and funky…not just time killers to extend play time.

Z-Trip also shows his sense of humor with what I would call one of the discs (surprising) gems, Breakfast Club. A beat that is infectious and nasty, and a stellar performance by heroes Murs and Supernatural, the track is…well…hilarious. As the intro speaks, if you remember getting up on Saturday mornings to eat cereal and watch cartoons, you have to love this track. It name checks almost every major brand of cereal and pretty much every kid’s show that I can remember. And I like to think I can remember a lot of crap. Besides, anything that mentions both Orko (from He-Man) and Kids Incorporated is the f’ing bees-knees in my eyes.

This album gives me hope. I know it sounds dramatic and corny, but it’s true. This 70-minute journey into Z-Trip’s expressions gives me a glimmer of eagerness that hip hop is salvageable, that there are still people out there doing what they love and at the same time turning the definition of a megagenre on it’s ear.

As the album closing reminds us, hip hop is not just about the music, it’s about a way of life. With his first album, Z-Trip shows us just how happy he is to be alive.

Never be ashamed of your music. Music is art and entertainment, and if it entertains you…then rock out to it like there is no tomorrow. Don’t apologize to anyone for what you listen to, unless of course the volume is too loud. In that case, apologize and turn it up just a little more.