While production was stymied by a four-month stint Ghostface served at Rikers, the consequence of a 1995 nightclub incident, the references to crime, present in so much of his work are, for the most part, absent from Supreme Clientele.Gone too is the materialism typical of a lot of hip-hop from the era. The album also goes inward to talk about depression, alcoholism, and recovery.
I was unimpressed. It's important because while these aren't "superproducer"-level tracks, they're incredibly accomplished album cuts. “Can’t you see that I’m special? Stylistically a bridge between the influences of Five Percenter legends such as Rakim and New Orleans hometown heroes not limited to Soulja Slim, it would serve well to remember that Jay Electronica has rendered himself a magician, as his initial 2007 greetings displayed a fascination with the film The Prestige. In the beginning, he’s back in grade school, speaking to a teacher in what’s probably a monologue courtesy of l’esprit de l’escalier.
He's also too direct in his conflict (he goes straight at Yealowolf's neck for a not fully-disclosed reason). “I’m one of them niggas that’ll bring them into their muthafuckin’ family, I don’t give a fuck if it’s ten of them. He tells you to Google it, as he does a few things on The Allegory.
Activité d'élevage ou Maybe that’s the most appropriate metaphor for this album. Whadda bout Production you ask? Unlike storied names such as Kid Hood, whose untimely passing came after impressing the world on A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario” remix, Jay Elec engaged the world in a tug of war between frustration and excitement making brief cameo appearances on songs or dropping a song intermittently before disappearing again. On the contrary, the production for He's no longer after those stones.In the short time since A Written Testimony world premiered on Instagram and Youtube via a studio session and its subsequent release to digital streaming platforms, the long-awaited release has already been met with passionate debate akin to “Ether” vs. “The Takeover” or any other topic rap passionates devote energy to.
Instead of relying on RZA and his grasshopper producers, a wheelbarrow full of different producers is enlisted to provide the beats.
It’s a stylistic extension of what he had been doing for years—breaking rap bars into uneven run-on pieces with entangled and elongated metaphors and complicated punchlines that are impossible to get on the first (or fourth) listen. And that's going to have to be enough.
His last two studio albums—2018's Book of Ryan and the recently released The Allegory–are all about building connections and showcasing emotional vulnerability in a way that someone as stoic as Thanos only revealed when alone with his daughter.It's a mess, but it's a beautiful one because it's honest. In short, it's a mess.Vibe.com is an affiliate site of Billboard, a subsidiary of Prometheus Global Media, LLC.we are every tattoo every piercing every drop of bloodWith the help of his well-established benefactor Just Blaze, the two years following Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) made Jay Electronica one of the more widely touted and anticipated emcees since Canibus a decade prior. “I learned everything I need to know at day one in the hospital.”The rhymes are often amazing and every guest appearance by a rapper is spectacular. Royce confesses that he's "too narcissistic to be lickin' carpet, too artistic to nut/ This a catharsis" before going on to add that "my side chick is still burnin', now my dick is scorchin'/ Talkin' bout 'I think I'm pregnant; I'm not with abortion'/ Any child that slides out you is an instant orphan."
They're not just rappers who came up together, they're products of tumultuous families, addicts who have leaned on one another, men who found sobriety, artists who genuinely use the recording booth as therapeutic havens. As Chris Rock said about those cadaverous scratches on “Stroke of Death,” it makes you want to stab your babysitter. It’s as if Muhammad returned from the cave of Hira to prophesize revelations of seasoned giraffe ribs, Scooby Snacks, dancing with the most sexually vibrant member of the *Golden Girls, *and how his dick made a magazine cover (“count how many veins on it”).He loves his crew, who roll deep alongside him: from Trife on the outro of "One" to Superb popping up everywhere, to the posse cuts "We Made It", "Buck 50" and "Wu Banga 101.” It’s Ghost’s show, but the experience of recording it doesn’t sound solitary. Top notch performance and experience and excellence when it comes to doing hair and having professionalism. His brother and longtime collaborator Kid Vishis shows up, as does Grafh.
There's really no better way to say it.Without question, Jay Electronica is one of the more complex personas we’ve come across in ages.