Hero Ball by iamahmen

Ahmen was born a nomad. Born in Minneapolis, raised in Queens, Alaska, Atlanta, Washington, and India he grew to know the world. The clash of the world’s double standards and raw truths made his mind a minefield of ideas. Building bridges and breaking walls between people became his mission. His music bores into the core of the world as he sees it; his insights are from a likeable place, people want to hear them, and he simplifies it all to a beat. He helps people every day to be alright, they’re not alone when he’s there; his music is no different. He is precise like the tip of a laser when focused; people can’t help but join in. When all his energy is at play, his fun is a new place of sizzles and fervor that burst a dancefloor open and moves masses. He reflects himself and his music in them and all of their wild and sober phases. There isn’t much else like him.

Hero Ball, Ahmen’s 2013 album, is the dance on the court that all rests on a final shot, rising to make bread, or going flat at the buzzer in sweat and sour tastes. Here, he answers a moment-defining question: Who would you like to take the last shot with the game on the line? Hero Ball hits big buckets after the next as Ahmen covers much ground in 40 fourth-quarter minutes distributed in nine tracks. Hero Ball is for both the sophisticated listener and the hip-hop fraternity as he challenges you with teachable moments on the joys and pitfalls of life, race relations, politics, history, religion, and the music business.  “Troublemaker” serves as an opener to the album where he recollects his upbringing to define who he has become, and compels you to question the reasons why we celebrate the status quo. He’s authentic on the track and doesn’t create a formulaic “hard” rapper persona, and somehow makes you dance and think at the same time. You immediately relate to him as he says “Now I’m still lookin lost, scolded by my bosses for laughin on the job / Told I was a bastard by the foes in my exhaust, emboldened by my actions gotta win at any cost”. Once he has your curiosity, following this, he wastes no time connecting with the listener with “Headphones”, a song that defines our time with Ahmen’s metaphorical look at headphones being the vessel for escaping and flying away from personal struggle.

Things get fun in “Samuel L. Jackson”, which is perhaps the most light-hearted, and at times comical, track on the album. Hero Ball goes to new heights with the captivating level of “When I Was Up”, a track in art-piece territory through Ahmen's take on fighting against the hate. In case you need a reminder on Ahmen’s roots in pure hip-hop, “I, Cypher” invites his opponents to complete humiliation on the court: you want to talk trash, young fella? Come on out here and guard me – but good luck as he drops 50 points worth of punchlines worthy of a frame-by-frame replay. Ahmen then slows the pace down with numerous teachable moments in “Legacy” and illuminates the paradox of politics as he states “One billion dollars, spent to be the president, and really do you know how they’re spendin it / 30 second ads aired to convince us, the lesser of the evils is best for our interests”. Hero Ball takes a big risk in crunchtime with a performance that deserves its own jersey hung above in the rafters of hip hop.

Crunchtime champions rest on wits and thousands of hours of preparation before their hands release a ball in the present; to make it or not. Each song of Hero Ball is the empty space between eye blinks while watching those last seconds of that champion, forever in the now, never knowing the end of the game, only the calamities and questions that come before and small glimpses of glory on the other side. On the open field, watching the future unfold, here on the precipice of the present, Ahmen speaks of what came before: legacy, chances, and spreading the love. We see glimpses of the future glory that only comes by feeling the full lows and full highs, accepting the flaws along the way. On Hero Ball you know Ahmen and the current rhythm of his crashing spirit well; he invites you to know yours better.