I was finally able to sit down and listen to another one of my most highly anticipated albums of the year, Abundance by PPP (formerly known as Platinum Pied Pipers). People, do not sleep on this one. It’s the first album I am adding to my Best of 2009 list.

For those not familiar, PPP, Wajeed and Saadiq are Detroit-based producers who released their debut album Triple P in 2005, an album that Questlove of the Roots says he listened to seven times straight.  Saadiq is a multi-instrumentalist, which is probably one of the things that draws me to their music. The live instrumentation is crazy, mixing elements of hip hop, funk, techno, disco, pop and house.

Before I pressed play on Abundance, I already knew that it would be a winner if only because an artist I discovered last year, Coultrain,  appears on several tracks. I instantly fell in love with his debut album, The Adventures of Seymour Liberty. The only reason it didn’t appear on my Top Albums of 2008 You’ve Never Heard is because I was so sure it had been released in 2007 and I was late. I’ll be spotlighting him here soon.

I also got to hear more from Karma Stewart, an artist out of Texas whose EP I heard recently and highly enjoyed. I’ll talk more about her later as well and she’ll be added to my ever-growing list of underrated female soul artists. Meantime, you can download The Karma EP for free. I see good things in store for her as long as us true music lovers do our parts.

Other artists that appear on the album are Jamila Raegan and Neco Redd who I think you’ll agree that you need to keep an ear out for. Neco Redd appeared on PPP’s debut album and has a project called “No Discipline” coming soon.

Abundance is truly an album you can press play on and groove from start to finish. No skips. I listened to it on the way into work one morning and it lifted my mood ten-fold.

Listen to a couple of my favorite tracks.

Ain’t No Ifs Or Maybes (featuring Coultrain)

Rocket Science (featuring Karma Stewart and Coultrain)

• To find out more, view the Abundance Electronic Press Kit.
• Visit PPP Myspace page to hear more tracks from the album.
• Watch the making of Abundance’s lead single, “On A Cloud” featuring Karma Stewart.
• Read The Hip Hop DX review of the Abundance.

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