Exhibit C had us trying to find the meaning of life in the Corona
March 13, 2020 2:54 PM Subscribe
I woke up to a new Jay Electronica album and was shocked to see it hadn't already been posted to the Blue. Nor did a search turn up any FPP on this mysterious hip hop artist back from the future. I then spent an hour marveling at the number of top-tier tracks and collaborations dropped over the last 11 years. This is not a man who is wasting his talent, but it is a man who has no thought for "personal brand" or commodifying his art. I tried to make this comprehensive, but my searches continue to uncover things I wasn't previously aware of. I give up. Go walkabout and find out more when you get through these.
I did the homework here at the expense of actually listening to the album, so I'm just going to drop it in here with no commentary and step away from the comments section. If you're new to Jay, I recommend listening to the Exhibit series and watching the DMT video to get a feeling for his sound.
Jay Electronica, "Exhibit A"
"Exhibit B" Seems like the same production and 1st verse as "Exhibit A", but Mos Def appears for a guest spot
"Exhibit C" Known for that great Billy Stewart sample.
"Dimethyltryptamine" Feels like a video distillation of synthetic hallucinogens.
"A Million In The Morning" Yes, that's a Mass Appeal official video from way back in 2011 starring a Proud Boy founder attempting a 5-day sleep deprivation, cameos from the NYC Naked Cowboy and Richard Simmons.
Big Sean featuring Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica, "Control"
Prhyme (DJ Premier and Royce da 5'9") "To Me, To You"
"Better In Tune with the Infinite" Elijah Muhammad excerpted at the track open. Riyuchi Sakamoto piano sample, and Jay at his most spiritually questing. Ibeyi covers this on KEXP in 2015.
Jay x MF Doom "Light Years"
"Letter to Falon"
Jay Electronica, "Dear Moleskine" Video set in Nepal. Almost no verses at all, just an instrumental with a half verse at the fadeout.
"bitches and drugs" Another one-verse chew it up and spit it out, featuring Nobody.
"annakin's prayer" Yes, it's a Star Wars verse.
"Road to Perdition" Jay-Z as hype man.
"Man UP"
I did the homework here at the expense of actually listening to the album, so I'm just going to drop it in here with no commentary and step away from the comments section. If you're new to Jay, I recommend listening to the Exhibit series and watching the DMT video to get a feeling for his sound.
Jay Electronica, "Exhibit A"
"Exhibit B" Seems like the same production and 1st verse as "Exhibit A", but Mos Def appears for a guest spot
"Exhibit C" Known for that great Billy Stewart sample.
"Dimethyltryptamine" Feels like a video distillation of synthetic hallucinogens.
"A Million In The Morning" Yes, that's a Mass Appeal official video from way back in 2011 starring a Proud Boy founder attempting a 5-day sleep deprivation, cameos from the NYC Naked Cowboy and Richard Simmons.
Big Sean featuring Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica, "Control"
Prhyme (DJ Premier and Royce da 5'9") "To Me, To You"
"Better In Tune with the Infinite" Elijah Muhammad excerpted at the track open. Riyuchi Sakamoto piano sample, and Jay at his most spiritually questing. Ibeyi covers this on KEXP in 2015.
Jay x MF Doom "Light Years"
"Letter to Falon"
Jay Electronica, "Dear Moleskine" Video set in Nepal. Almost no verses at all, just an instrumental with a half verse at the fadeout.
"bitches and drugs" Another one-verse chew it up and spit it out, featuring Nobody.
"annakin's prayer" Yes, it's a Star Wars verse.
"Road to Perdition" Jay-Z as hype man.
"Man UP"
idk shit about jay electronica either but i saw it trending on twitter and also saw that HOV was heavily featured on the album and his verses were supposedly dope so i put it on this morning while i calmly bought groceries amidst the panic shopping. it was pretty good! v interesting style of beats and background music and whatnot, and the verses were pretty great too.
posted by lazaruslong at 3:21 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by lazaruslong at 3:21 PM on March 13, 2020
Was "the album" maybe meant to link to the playlist instead of just the first song?
posted by juv3nal at 6:35 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by juv3nal at 6:35 PM on March 13, 2020
I only came to hear of this album because I'm a Khruangbin fan - this is gorgeous. Looking forwared to hearing the rest.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 10:50 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 10:50 PM on March 13, 2020
Hi it's me, your local cantankerous ol hip hop fan. A Written Testimony is disappointing. Number one, hip hop fans waited a jillion years to hear a Jay Elec album, not a Hov + JayElect LP. The beats are subpar considering previous stuff Jay Electronica has been on. Some of the songs you can tell they weren't recorded over the beat they're over.
It's better than nothing, and there are 3 good songs, but a half a song per year waited - weak. Suckas, My Uzi Weighs a Ton and Be Easy are better than this whole thing by far. So it's really disappointing to have this be this weak. But the good news is, we still have all those classics with better rhymes on them over the beats they have. The Announcement is better than anything here. Lyrics wise, Google Eyes performed live, is better.
How you mail something in after all these years, I don't know. But his previous lyrics were stunning.
"Earthquakes and rain. Hail, snow, locusts and bees.
All of the above are caused by the dopest emcees."
The imagery is ridiculous, and his flow on those lines impeccable.
The classic second verse from Exhibit C (He says trying to find the meaning of life in a Corona, as far as I was aware) that ends with him saying "My uzi still weigh a ton check the barometer...I'm hotter than the (mf) sun, check the thermometer", again with his bully flows is worlds better than any lyrics A Written Testimony has to offer.
The PE reference, the reference back to his own song where one of the best parts was a callback to Eric B & Rakim's classic "I'll take seven emcees and put em in a line", flipped in just a great way, and so those things are all in play, and then he says "check the barometer". Which, the way it's delivered, after the "Jay Elect-Hanukkah...Jay Elect-Yarmulke...." part of that verse, just takes you into hip hop heaven. If you get all the references and process all that information at once, at the time you first encounter it (I didn't fully and it still blew my mind), it's just unreal.
He's one of the most talented artists. The opening lines of Google Eyes and other verses of his where he says "ditect" or says "Jay Elect reigns supreme over everything" just pack meaning, layers, respect and hip hop tradition in, that this new LP just sounds throwaway for the most part. Possible it could grow on me but it just seems like these were outtakes.
posted by cashman at 9:53 AM on March 14, 2020 [8 favorites]
It's better than nothing, and there are 3 good songs, but a half a song per year waited - weak. Suckas, My Uzi Weighs a Ton and Be Easy are better than this whole thing by far. So it's really disappointing to have this be this weak. But the good news is, we still have all those classics with better rhymes on them over the beats they have. The Announcement is better than anything here. Lyrics wise, Google Eyes performed live, is better.
How you mail something in after all these years, I don't know. But his previous lyrics were stunning.
"Earthquakes and rain. Hail, snow, locusts and bees.
All of the above are caused by the dopest emcees."
The imagery is ridiculous, and his flow on those lines impeccable.
The classic second verse from Exhibit C (He says trying to find the meaning of life in a Corona, as far as I was aware) that ends with him saying "My uzi still weigh a ton check the barometer...I'm hotter than the (mf) sun, check the thermometer", again with his bully flows is worlds better than any lyrics A Written Testimony has to offer.
The PE reference, the reference back to his own song where one of the best parts was a callback to Eric B & Rakim's classic "I'll take seven emcees and put em in a line", flipped in just a great way, and so those things are all in play, and then he says "check the barometer". Which, the way it's delivered, after the "Jay Elect-Hanukkah...Jay Elect-Yarmulke...." part of that verse, just takes you into hip hop heaven. If you get all the references and process all that information at once, at the time you first encounter it (I didn't fully and it still blew my mind), it's just unreal.
He's one of the most talented artists. The opening lines of Google Eyes and other verses of his where he says "ditect" or says "Jay Elect reigns supreme over everything" just pack meaning, layers, respect and hip hop tradition in, that this new LP just sounds throwaway for the most part. Possible it could grow on me but it just seems like these were outtakes.
posted by cashman at 9:53 AM on March 14, 2020 [8 favorites]
Gilles Peterson interviewed him on his show yesterday. About 44 minutes in.
posted by DelusionsofGrandeur at 2:14 AM on March 15, 2020
posted by DelusionsofGrandeur at 2:14 AM on March 15, 2020
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posted by macrael at 3:15 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]