Thank God, a sunny day after all the rain the last few days. Been listening to Stacey Epps’ 2008 debut for a while and after yesterday’s Dilla remembrance I just needed a glimpse of sun to write this post, as “The Awakening” is a sunshine album. I’ve written about Epps a few months ago yet I admit I was too late to listen to the full album, else it would have been on our Top 30.

The Awakening is a spiritual awakening taking place in the neosoul/hipsoul territory. The beats by Dilla, Madlib, Jneiro Janel, Muhsinah and Epps herself are extremely well crafted and laced with cosmic vibes, yet her spiritual lyrics and ethereal singing makes the album a non-skippable entity. Stacy’s mostly singing on this album but we get to hear her rap on a few beats and it’s always reassuring to hear street conscious positive lyrics as opposed to the manufactured self-referential pop music we try to avoid. There’s not much ground to stand left against the market’s demand and Stacy Epps is one artist to cling to.