It opens with children’s voices. Then the drums hit.
War Torn is an eight-track album by producer HZPROD. It sounds like a film score that walked into a basement cypher: heavy boom-bap drums, dark orchestral layers, and voices that refuse to soften what war does to people. It isn’t background music. It’s built to make you stop and listen.
This post walks you through the record, the story behind it, and, just as plainly, how the Gaza fundraiser linked from this site works. That way, if you choose to give, you know exactly where your money goes.
The sound of War Torn
HZPROD describes his style as the place where boom-bap grit meets film-score atmosphere: hard drums under dark orchestral textures. That makes it a cinematic record first and a hip-hop record always. If you usually come to dark cinematic electronic music for scale and tension, you’ll find the same weight here, carried by live-sounding drums and rap verses instead of synth drops.
The album is arranged in four acts:
- Act I: “War Within (Radio Edit)” with Zombie Juice and Horseshoe G.A.N.G., “AFRICA” with Marco Vernice, Siggas and Sashaa, and “Save The Children (Intro)”.
- Act II: “God Is The Key” with Mickey Factz and Marco Vernice, and “Slave Music” with Marco Vernice and Charles Hamilton.
- Act III: “War Within”, a 148 BPM track in F# minor, and “Peace?” with KXNG Crooked, The Game and Mickey Factz.
- Act IV: “Dreamer” with Marco Vernice and Siggas.
“Peace?” is built around one uncomfortable question: if everyone says they want peace, why does conflict continue? “Slave Music” asks who really owns an artist and their work. “Dreamer” names wars in Sudan and Gaza and still holds on to hope.
Where the story starts
HZPROD is Bosnian-born and New York–raised. He was born during the Bosnian war, and his life began in displacement. His mother fled the violence through Slovenia and Germany before settling in the United States, where he grew up in Utica, New York.
He found hip-hop while learning English, and it taught him how much weight a story can carry. Years later he went back to Bosnia to rebuild his mother’s destroyed home, keeping a promise he made as a child.
That is the lens of War Torn. It isn’t a soundtrack to someone else’s tragedy. It comes from a producer who knows what displacement leaves behind, and who wants listeners who have never lived through war to feel some of its human cost. You can read more on the HZPROD story page.
Listen, share, and help the music travel
Independent music reaches new people one listener at a time. If War Torn connects with you, here’s how to help it find its audience:
- Listen to the full album on Spotify or YouTube. The complete tracklist is on the War Torn music page.
- Save the tracks you actually like and follow HZPROD on Spotify.
- Add a song to your own playlist if it fits the mood.
- Share one track with a person or community that cares about conscious hip-hop, cinematic music or human rights.
How an independent music stream actually helps
Genuine listens, saves, follows and real playlist adds tell streaming platforms that people are choosing this music. Over time, that can help an independent artist build an audience. There’s no guarantee of algorithmic playlists or promotion, though.
Please don’t loop tracks on mute or use any “stream boosting” service. Artificial plays break platform rules and can get music removed. And to be clear: streaming a song is not a donation. A stream supports the artist’s music. It doesn’t send money to Gaza.
A Gaza music donation fundraiser, explained honestly
The donation buttons on this site link to one campaign on Chuffed: “Mohammad from Gaza Seeks Help After War Injuries.” If you want to support a Gaza fundraiser, you deserve to know exactly how it works. Here’s what the campaign page itself says. Read it in full before you give.
- Who it’s for: Mohammad Abu Shaar, a father of five who was injured in the current conflict. The campaign says his family’s home was destroyed and that they live in a tent.
- What it’s raising money for: medical procedures and follow-up care, basic needs, shelter, and mental-health support for him and his family.
- How the money moves: it’s a personal fundraising campaign run by an organiser on Chuffed. Donations are made directly to that organiser and are not tax-deductible.
- Fees: the organiser states they keep up to 5% to cover payment processing, transfer and admin costs, and that at least 95% is sent to the intended beneficiary.
- Verification: the campaign states that the organiser’s identity was verified by One Palestine, which also completed identity checks and sanctions screening on the beneficiaries. One Palestine doesn’t receive, hold or distribute the donations.
HZPROD shares this campaign but doesn’t run it, and donations don’t pass through HZPROD. Donating is completely separate from streaming royalties, merchandise or digital sales. For other ways to help, see our guides on helping Gaza without money and choosing Gaza aid organisations, or visit the donate page.
Two ways to stand with War Torn
Press play if the music speaks to you. Support the fundraiser if you choose to and if you’re able. They’re two different actions, and both matter.
Prefer video? Watch “War Within” on YouTube.
