“As the son and nephew of pioneering UK nu roots dub duo Alpha & Omega — bassist Christine Woodbridge and keyboard player John Sprosen — Ben Alpha Steppa grew up surrounded by sound system and dubplate culture, starting in his mother's womb at Channel One and Jah Shaka shows. In his music the competing influences of nature and nurture cannot be separated. He has grown to become one of the most prolific and inventive dub producers around, absorbing worldwide inputs into his productions without dilution of their constituent parts, most notably with his recent Trigram series. On this set collaborating artists are from Russia, Senegal, Nigeria, Jamaica, Suriname and Brazil, but the true test of all reggae/ dub productions is when they stand alone in the mix, here with the horn driven march of \"Concrete Meditation\". Alpha Steppa places himself in the same league as Aswad's \"Warrior Charge\" and comes out proud.” Steve Barker – Wire Magazine
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\"You are guaranteed deep and heavy bass with Steppas Records.. It’s not just the bass you feel, but it also ties you in with ancient civilisations.\" Roots Reggae Review
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\"On '3rd Kingdom' twelve quite different tracks, but, as Steppa summarizes: \"We call it Conscious sound system music, which basically means that when we are producing a song or working with an artist, we like to have some kind of message, it's as much about the message as it is the music.\". The bird on the cover of '3rd Kingdom', an African hop, is the work of Ben's mother Eve. Alpha Steppa chose the design after he spotted a hop while working on the recordings for this album; the hop being a migratory bird, also makes it the perfect symbol in the light of global migration issues. Asked about the title of this new album, Ben commented: \"We have the physical kingdom, the metaphysical kingdom, and then there's the 3rd kingdom, the stateless state; that which cannot truly be named or spoken of. I see music as the bridge to this place, between the known, the unknown and the unknowable. It's just my own personal philosophy. I call it newborn knowledge, as it's not really about knowledge but that which came before: awareness.\". All you still need are our favorites from the track list, being opener and title track '3rd Kingdom' feat. Tenor Youthman (featuring some great trombone work by Dave 'King David' Andrews), the solid stepper 'Mek We March' feat. Cologne, and finally 'Heart Made Of Stone', a successful reworking of the Viceroys' classic by Sistah Awa. Get ready to open that portal to the '3rd Kingdom'!\" Rebelbase
