Pep Love

Pep Love, also known as PL, spent years as an underrecognized MC within the Hieroglyphics collective from East Oakland, CA, receiving little more than acknowledgments and sporadic featured appearances on crew releases. He contributed creatively to Souls of Mischief’s 1993 debut 93 Til Infinity and earned background lyrical credits on the tracks “When Ya Lost” and “Batting Practice,” yet his initial full verse arrived on the B-side “Undisputed Champs” alongside Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Q-Tip. Additional early features included the track “Who’s It On” from Casual’s debut album Fear Itself and Extra Prolific’s “Like It Should Be,” after which PL stepped away while Souls of Mischief and the wider Hiero roster entered an extended hiatus. He reemerged in 1998 on the Hieroglyphics compilation Third Eye Vision, where his performance on “After Dark” again highlighted the overlooked talent and prompted renewed attention. During this period as a Hiero affiliate, Pep Love developed a tight partnership with producer and crew member Jay Biz, leading to occasional joint work under the name The Prose. A rapid, metaphor-rich lyricist whose metaphysical style reached full expression on his first solo project, Ascension, issued in August 2001 on the Hiero Imperium label and largely produced by Jay Biz, the album yielded the singles “Fight Club” and “T.A.M.I.” Two years later came Ascension Side C, a set of leftover recordings that featured the earlier single “Crooked Angles.” That same year Hiero issued The Shamen, gathering Pep Love and Jay Biz’s previously unreleased 1990s collaborations, while 2005 brought the mixtape The Foundation, which included beats and appearances from Zion I, Aceyalone, and various Hieroglyphics members. Subsequent guest spots encompassed the single “Play On” by Japanese hip-hop producer DJ Deckstream, yet PL remained silent on solo fronts until the 2012 album Rigmarole, again released through Hiero Imperium. He later teamed with Souls of Mischief’s Opio to form the duo First Light, whose debut full-length Fallacy Fantasy appeared in 2013, followed by Pep Love’s own EP Dolla Daily the next year.