It’s a strange concoction that somehow works as Jay Electronica opens up to listeners about his turbulent return to the mic. “ Listen, I named my son, Sir, so you gotta call my son, ‘Sir’/That boy already knighted, he ain’t even out his romper,” Jay-Z asserts. Houston rapper Travis Scott anchors the chorus on “ The Blinding,” by spiritual chants: “Blinding/Blinded by the light/See the stars and our sun.”
On the Euro-jazz fusion pacing of “ The Neverending Story,” Jay Electronica announces, “ His favorite song from Prince was not ‘Raspberry Beret’/It was ‘Sometimes It Snows In April’/He was brought up by the faithful.” It’s as if Jay Electronica’s aim is to not simply feed the public a commercially hit, but a deep album cut.
Album of the decade: Kendrick Lamar’s ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’.Why hasn’t hip-hop had a real Las Vegas residency?.Jay-Z turns 50: Music, money and the legacy of Marcy Houses.“ In this manila envelope, the results of my insanity/ Quack said I crossed the line ’tween real life and fantasy/Can it be the same one on covers with Warren Buffett? Was ducking the undercovers, was warring with muh’f-–s…” Related Stories Jay-Z flips Jay Electronica’s clever line of unburdening his inner battles into a statement on how black ambition from impoverished neighborhoods such as Jay-Z’s own Marcy Houses project is often viewed as madness. Arguably it’s the most brilliant offering on A Written Testimony, which finds Jay Electronica recalling a conversation he had with his shrink: “ Me and Puff, we was chilling in Miami/He said, ‘ N-a, f- the underground, you need to win a Grammy/For your mama and your family, they need to see you shined up/You built a mighty high ladder, let me see you climb up.’ “ R&B singer-songwriter The-Dream pops up on “ Shiny Suit Theory” with a voice that makes him sound like a blues-baptized female soul singer ready to make a comeback. It was as if Jay Electronica was created in a laboratory as payback for Southern rappers OutKast getting booed at the 1995 Source Awards after winning best new rap group.Īnd the curveballs continue on A Written Testimony. For example, in 2009, he presented himself as a starving artist on his single “ Exhibit C,” where he looked back on his struggles: “When New York n -s was calling southern rappers lame/But then jacking our slang.” He sounds like he worships at the East Coast hip-hop altar of Rakim, the Wu-Tang Clan, Pete Rock and DJ Premier, but he proudly represents New Orleans royalty DJ Jubilee, Master P, Magnolia Shorty and Cash Money. It’s one of the oddities of Jay Electronica. He makes clear on said track: “ Don’t make me have to blast this rocket, uh, Jay Electricity/The thing you need like a hole in his head is publicity.” “ My ancestors took old food, made soul food/Jim Crow’s a troll too, he stole the soul music/That’s the blood that goes through me, so you assumin’,” blasts Jay-Z on the track.Īn introduction from the Nation of Islam leader – Jay Electronica practices Islam himself – and a shoutout to the Big Easy rap hero are reminders that A Written Testimony is still Jay Electronica’s show. That’s soon followed by “ Ghost of Soulja Slim,” a powerful nod to the late New Orleans hip-hop deity. “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has said that/almighty God Allah revealed to him/that the black people of America are the real/children of Israel/… and they, we, are the choice of God/and that unto us he will deliver his promise!” declares the voice of the controversial Minister Louis Farrakhan.
It’s clear from its dramatic opening, “ The Overwhelming Event,” that this album is not for the faint of heart. The album also features production by No I.D., Swizz Beatz, the Alchemist and Hit Boy. But the album is less Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne collaboration and more Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.Ī Written Testimony finds Jay Electronica in the driver’s seat while a rejuvenated Jay-Z calls shotgun, flexing skills like a sneering Ghostface. The headline, of course, is the inclusion of hip-hop vet Jay-Z, who signed the hibernating spitter to his Roc Nation imprint.
But after a 13-year wait, Jay Electronica returns with A Written Testimony, a debut that’s as satisfying as it is mercurial. To outside eyes, the hype had become too much.
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