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Hello Steemians, It's Gracehills again. The last time, I did an album review in a written format: J. COLE'S K.O.D ALBUM REVIEW. You can watch the video in this post where an intro was given in its regards.
Preferably, kindly read it up here :
https://steemit.com/review/@gracehills/j-cole-s-k-o-d-album-review
It was a nice one and I'm thankful for the comments. Now I will be doing something different. In attempt to promoting steemit in my school through entertainment (just I have promised earlier in my introductory post), I developed a better strategy. More updates are coming up.
I decided to spice up this review with a video. Thanks to Mr Dante for this idea. Meanwhile, this video was done with my course-mate, Elvis who will be doing his introductory post soon. Enjoy the video while you read what I and Elvis came up with. After the video, I designed the post of which he played a good part in.
I guess I gave this post a good title too: Jay Rock’s Redemption album is out and it’s hot as hell!
Let's begin!
Rap fans have been blessed with so many rap releases this year, J. Cole, Pusha T and Kanye West have all come out with strong releases. Each making strong cases for rap album of the year, but just before Drake’s album is released by the ending of June, Jay Rock has put out what is in my opinion, the strongest and most complete rap album of the year so far.
He caught my attention with his monster verse on label mate Kendrick Lamar’s money trees. Having grown up in the rough areas of Watts in Los Angeles, California, his music is mainly centered on the tough way of living in the hood. This album is equipped with dense lyrics, superb production with hard hitting hip hop beats. Let’s have a track by track review of the album now, shall we?
Track 1: The bloodiest
Jay Rock ditches the usual cool intros on rap albums and decides to go hard right from the first track. And boy did he go hard? Here he reminisces about his own struggles in the hood, and the problems he faced before he got signed. Making eyes turn with lines such as
“No album, no dope, I was all out of options,
I’d rather rob than get a job, don’t insult me,
Remember it was nicks and dimes back in ’03,
I was doing bad so I took your bag,
Tables turned lessons learned karma come back fast”
He later tells that he rose above all that after getting signed, and tells us he has money in the bank now. You can have all the money in the world, but can you rise above the mindset of a thug from the streets? Let’s see how it goes along the course of the album.
Track 2: For what it’s worth
Here Jay shows us the conflicting thoughts in the mind of the street kid, and the struggle to get out of the hood. Also talks about how hard it is the leave the harsh street mindset behind, which was one of the themes of Kendrick Lamar’s “To pimp a butterfly”.
“Struggle with who I am and who I wanna be,
Got these streets and these beats right in front of me”
He also addresses the conflict between neighborhood gangs,
“Should I kill this nigga or should I let him slide?
cause if I don’t he’ll double back we got family ties,
And if I do, I can’t rap, and that’s suicide,
cause niggas telling, turn you to felons at 25,
I can’t have my babies walking round in projects,
While I’m on the bunk stressing through the process”
The lines above represent the inner conflict in the mind of a thug, knowing the right thing to do, but still going back and forth and not being able to avoid the street lifestyle because you have to survive.
Track 3: Knock it off
In the beginning, he thanks God for helping him make it out of the hood and for giving him a second chance at life. He also thanks God for different privileges he has been enjoying since he got signed.
On this track he enjoys the benefits of his newly acquired life. He also brags about his newly acquired lifestyle as seen in the lyrics of the song. It overall is one of the catchy songs on the album and contains very superb production.
Track 4: ES Tales
He starts with a skit at the beginning, where he says:
“Back in the projects, back in the projects
I lost it all, now I’m back in the projects”
This tells you that in the end the street mindset got the better of him and he’s lost the good life he had before, maybe due to not investing it or reckless spending trying to show off to people that he has money. Now he’s back to the hood, resulting to robbing, drug dealing and gang banging to keep up with his flashy lifestyle.
He also addresses the life and death situations faced everyday in the streets when he says:
“Don’t come around without your pass, niggas on they tip,
Zero tolerance on niggas money, niggas want they shit,
Don’t start nothing without your blower, that’s a one way trip,
Six feet under, real life, that’s all gunplay is”
He also uses this track to advise the young people living the street life, doing different things such as robbing, prostitution, to survive. He asks them “don’t you know no good, don’t you know no good bitch?” Quite a funny way to be a good example if you ask me.
Track 5: Rotation 112th
So he’s back in the streets now and does nothing but smoke, drink and other gang related activities. You hear him say:
“I got the smoke I got the weed in rotation”.
The first verse details the acts of gang banging, street shootouts and crime. You also find Jay spitting some very hot bars with an impeccable flow.
On the bridge just before the second verse, a male voice, who from his words sounds seems like a member of a gang, says:
“To all the real niggas, let’s pledge allegiance right now”
Then on the second verse, he starts to boast about how good he is at living the street life while getting back up from the same male voice. He raps:
“Okay, I slide by myself, I don’t need no help,
Chopper on the seat, no safety belt”.
Track 6: Tap out [Feat. Jeremih]
In the midst the dangerous living, Jay takes time out to explore the wonders of the female body, and also does this with some explicit lyrics alongside Jeremih, who comes through with a very great chorus. The track flows through with a cool beat along with Jeremih’s amazing vocals. Definitely one for the clubs eh?
Track 7: OSOM [Feat. J. Cole]
One thing about this album is Jay came up with very amazing ideas for his features. This is one of them, as he calls on rap heavyweight J. Cole. He looks back about his life before and after he “lost it all”, on the first verse, where he says:
“I just got signed, everybody on my line,
They wanna know the taxes,
Do Rock got a mansion? 30K to my moms,
The hood turnt up,
Bitches, bottles, dope and all that stuff”
And then talks about what happened after he lost it all:
“But when the label frozed up, they all chosed up,
They telling me you a non-believer now,
A felony all I could think about,
The cars got repoed, the bills they ad up,
My bitch done left me I smoked my last one,
I’m high with no sleep, I pray a bag come,
I just might grab one, I just might blast one of you,
Cause I ain’t got nothing to lose”
He advises people to watch how they act when they are short on money and not go astray like he did when he says:
“One thing that I’ve learnt through all of these years,
Is to block the devil off of my ears,
Cause the fairy tales don’t end well,
When the fame and fortune not here”
Then J. Cole delivers a killer verse that flows well with the narrative. Jay Rock doesn’t let him go easy though, as he delivers another awesome verse, and in the end he advises us to not place too much value on the material things in a way that they lead us to do things that we normally wouldn’t do, to also make sure that you live the best possible way. He says “hope you worth more than your rolex when you run up outta time”. This means you should make sure to leave your mark in the world, and not chase after material things only.
Track 8: King’s Dead [Feat. Future]
The first single off the album, and another one of the amazing features. It left Jay Rock on the billboard hot 100 chart for quite a number of months. It comes with an amazing beat, produced by Mikewillmadeit.
In the beginning Jay says he’s:
“Still in the projects,
Still in the projects,
If you fall-all-all-all,
There’s no king in the projects”
With the track intro and the title of the track, I guess you can tell what he’s talking about. There’s no king in the streets, as far as you’re living that life you can die at anytime.
Track 9: Troopers
Talking about life in the streets drug dealing with his friends, and also talks about the dangers faced in the hood where he’s from. He says:
“It’s work on the phone,
Tell my mama that I might not make it home”.
Track 10: Broke +-
Jay Rock asks “now have you ever been broke, sick of forever losing?”
It’s a slow tempo track where Jay Rock admits the wrong in all his actions, but says he does them because he’s scared to go broke. This is in line with his advice on “OSOM”, where he says you should think more of living a good life and of leaving your mark in the world than of material things. It’s a difficult choice though, as on the track he also says, “you are either making that dirty money or living righteous broke”. He also challenges the government as he points out the harsh conditions of living where he’s from.
Track 11: Wow freestyle [Feat. Kendrick Lamar]
Just a rap freestyle as indicated by the title. Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar trade hot bars on this one. After getting schooled by Jay Rock on “money trees”, I’d say Kendrick comes for blood on this one as he delivers very great lines. Jay doesn’t disappoint also as he raps well, making the song amazing overall, with a funky beat that permits them to do what they want with their verses.
Track 12: Redemption [Feat. SZA]
He puts it all together as he comes to redeem himself, he uses his near fatal motorcycle accident as the concept for this song, says he thought about his ways when he was lying in the critical condition. He asks:
“If you had a second chance in life what would you do?
Would you put the lean down, throw out the pills too?
Treat your baby mama right and make way for your kids?
Peace with your enemies, keep the water under the bridge?”
SZA takes the chorus and says:
“I came to redeem myself,
All I need is God’s help,
It’s a million of miracles,
Show the real you, the real truth”
The second chance in question can be a chance with privileges, or maybe just a second chance at life, he was given a new life when he got signed but he didn’t do things better, as he was still stuck in his old ways.He reflects on his life here and admits he could have done things better, he encourages you to do things better too, as you might not get a second chance like he did.
Track 13: WIN
Just a delicious, delicious track, the outro couldn’t have been better.
CONCLUSION
I still stand by my declaration that this is the most complete and interesting rap release of this year, well structured and compiled, with very good features. And the concept used, the ups and downs of living that street life, can be well supported if you’ve heard of the death of young rapper Xxxtentacion, who was shot dead recently.
There are a lot of things that could captivate you about this album, it could be his voice, the things he rapped about, the great beats and enjoyable sound but in the end, he delivered a very good message with a unique concept which is the main thing to look out for in rap albums.
If you have ever slept on Jay Rock, you are hereby forgiven, now go get this album so you can enjoy hip hop at its best!
Thanks for coming around, I'll like to get your feedback too. A resteem will be appreciated.
Cheers!!!