Born during the Bosnian War and raised in New York, HZPROD has a more direct personal connection to the subject matter of his War Torn project than most artists making political music right now. “Dreamer” is the second single from that campaign, out March 31st, and it features two guest contributors – Marco Vernice and Siggas – who each bring their own angle to a track covering Sudan, Gaza, colonial exploitation, labor inequality, and incarceration. It’s a lot of ground to cover in one song, and the production earns it: boom-bap foundations with cinematic, film-score-influenced textures that give the heavier content room to land. Proceeds from the project go to Save the Children.
This song is exactly why hip-hop is a powerful genre. This kind of political commentary can never be done at the same level of power in any other style. The pen is more powerful than the sword, and talented lyricists like HZPROD wield it with conviction to speak up on the most pressing issues of our time. Marco Vernice opens the record with a verse that frames the whole thing as “a war cry from the masses,” and Siggas follows with something more introspective – colonial legacies, identity, the kind of systemic corruption that is integrated so deeply into our system like a cancer. Both perspectives sit comfortably on the track without crowding each other, which is a credit to how the production is sequenced.
The contrast between the verses and the hook is where “Dreamer” holds its tension together. “Dream baby… freedom coming soon” is a simple refrain, but it lands differently after what precedes it – less like a resolution and more like a stubborn insistence in the face of everything the song just laid out. That balance between acknowledging real pain and refusing to let it be the final word is hard to pull off without it feeling forced, and this track mostly manages it. War Torn is still building out its full picture, and if the remaining releases keep this level of intention behind them, the project as a whole is going to be worth paying attention to.