Electronica Relaxation.
Exhibit A. It was written. Finally it is here. An album we've been waiting for almost as long as we did for D'Angelo and Maxwell's vanguard classics in a BlackSummersNIGHT(?). 'A Written Testimony' by neo soul rapper Jay Electronica (I'm calling it. This is the Musiq or Saadiq of hip-hop. Erykah Badu really does have an effect like lighting those Gwyneth Paltrow like candles) finally comes around a lucky for us 13 unexpected years after he dropped his B.I.G. mixtape 'Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)' like bird s### (released on MySpace...THAT'S how long we've been waiting), on this Friday the 13th gone like he always pledged. Recorded in 40 days and 40 nights, now the sun shines again with this spotless mind for the forever foresight in a 2020 that has lacked vision. We lost Kobe. We gained a seemingly uncontrollable world panic pandemic virus that is keeping everyone barricaded in their homes with forts made out of toilet paper. Bringing the very worst out of us with no sanitation. We need this album now more than ever. Especially with fellow top hip-hop envelope pusher and signed, sealed and delivered game redefining, modern icon, Childish Gambino's latest that really bird s### dropped on the same day, 'Donald Glover Presents' being self-quarantined by Lando himself, pulled back just under 12 hours (we've been busy out in Japan and missed the boat. We'll get to a review when we get to it. If it ever comes back). We need some hope, some positivity, some soul. Albeit with raw realism...and that's exactly what Electronica's electric, eclectic 'Testimony' is, written as such. After years of Reflection Eternal, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek features and blazing Just Blaze produced 'Exhibit A' and 'Exhibit C' tracks sampling Billy Stewart's 'Cross My Heart' and "hope to die" as electric as the Nikola Tesla Colorado Springs experimental station 'Magnifying Transmitter' tinted artwork, call this debut album like a Travelling Wilbury, Exhibit B.
Exhibit B. Jay vs Jay. The Carter Administration of S. Dot didn't just sign Jay Electronica to Roc Nation (like we only wish we could see this Jay in a Rocafella chain. Going to the top of the Kanye, Cam'ron, Beans and Bleek legendary rock like having a view of both Central Park and the Empire State in New York's Big Apple), or executive produce his album in a Hokusai like Tidal wave of hype. Jay-Z is all over this album like Corona, or like he just realized that Beyoncé's raps bodied him on their double album that made art like their video in Paris' Louvre, posing infront of the Mona Lisa like it was quarantine time with not a single selfie soul in the usual scrum crowd sight. Going apes###, Jay is on every one of Jay's tracks like he hasn't had his own album in years. But there's nothing limelight hogging about it. Even if some of Jay-Z's legendary lines steal the show. Like on the f###### classic 'Flux Capacitor' were he timeline travels, leaving DeLorean fire tracks like "great Scott" or that 'Robot Chicken' 'Jigga'-Watt' skit of him in 'Back To The Future' ("IT'S YOUR BOY!"). Sacking any NFL notion he's sold out. Rapping,"When I die please don't tweet about my death/Tryna get mentions, bringin’ attention to yourself/Please don’t post some pic from in the club/With some quote you stole like we was tighter than what we was." Like the man who "doesn't do too much blogging" was literally taking subliminal shots on all the socials like "is this about me?" And how about his O'Jay entendre for all you 'Backstabbers'. But it's his chorus on the closer and compelling classic 'A.P.I.D.T.A.' that is truly something else, recorded the night Kobe Bryant passed as Electronica crafts his most poetic prose, "My eyelids is like levees but my tear ducts is like glaciers/As I contemplate creation, the salt that heals my wounds pour out my eyes just like libations". No spotlight jacking on these beats, just one/two punch sharing. Instead it sort of feels like one of those classic old Wu-Tang records like Raekwon's 'Only Built For Cuban Linx' that Ghostface Killah would jump on and haunt track for track, bar for bar. Only for the Chef out the pot cooked kitchen to return the favour with no Adidas shell toes being stepped on, as they just stepped each others games up, passing and rocking the mic like Run-DMC. And that's exactly what happens here beautifully. Right from the haunting big beat of the 'Slow Motion' tribute of the 'Ghost Of Soulja Slim', as the pair go No Limit, N.O. with Jay (of the electric variety) stating, "if it comes from me and Hov, consider it Qu'ran". Even if Shawn Carter back in the game and on his paying LeBron form deserves an album feature credit...but really is the man for not having one (other classic collaborations for the record include the illuminating 'The Blinding' with Travis Scott (talking about "the dove Prince sang about in Purple Rain" and writing his best introspective, middle of the night raps, "When I lay down in my bed it's like my head in the vice/When I look inside the mirror all I see is flaws/When I look inside the mural all I see is walls/And the wee hours of night, tryna squeeze out bars/Bismillah, just so y'all could pick me apart?") and the infamous 'Shiny Suit Theory' and emotional 'Ezikiel's Wheel', both with The-Dream). But Mark these words. If this is a classic Jay Electronica album (which it really is), it's really a classic Jay-Z record too (add these collaborations to the greatest hits of his classic catalogue). As a matter of fact with his new muse sounding a little notorious the rapper who is a little Jay-Z and a little Pharoahe Monch mixed together makes this all sound a little like the finest of Brookyn beyond a reasonable doubt, back in the coming of age day. Better get ready to "s### your draws". Because you can't knock this hustle.
Exhibit C. Here it is. The first great album of the year before The Weeknd in these blinding electric lights like the neon of downtown Tokyo. And the first great rap album of the decade, which in ten years time will still make all the top ten lists. Making fellow Timothy's proud, Thedford is as real as it gets. Dedicating himself to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakan (whose 'Overwhelming Event' opens this photo album) , Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and showing this faith in the testimony of his amazing album artwork (actually created by Beyoncé in her private pool), written in مكتوبة شهادة Arabic and the legacy of his legendary lyrics. And how about the prolific production in between some classic beats from Swizz Beatz, The Alchemist and No I.D. for a man who like Mr. West is just as good behind the boards as he is on bars? From 'The Neverending Story' sang even better than Dusty Bun on Netflix's 80's baby 'Stranger Things' to a 'Universal Soldier' that goes Van Damme hard (DAMN!) as Hov plays Dolph. And just wait until that nostalgic rap moment were you recognise the sample of 'Fruits Of The Spirit' as Jay "snaps like the finger of Thanos" for rap infinity in this modern day, memory short fuse (shorter than this track) Endgame, that like Jay-Z said in his 'Life and Times' will have you ripping the plastic off your C.D. (if they still exist) and reading the credits. Cop this disc. Spinning like Mardi Gras around the Crescent City calendar. From the swamp of Louisiana, the French Quarters of New Orleans can rejoice this first quarter like the return and road to Zion with this Big Easy classic record as important to the city as Louis Armstrong or jazz itself. A modern day classic like the city of wind, Chicago's own Common's 'Be' finding forever that clocking in at around 39 minutes is just as long, short and sweet classic. This will make you still love H.E.R. again. As a matter of fact, barring Kendrick's bars it's the best rap classic since 'Be' (that is if you count Gambino's 'Awaken My Love' for the genre defying gem that it is). Sorry Drake. This is more than an album. It's a piece of art. Taking us back to the good ole bygone times were rap releases would be an event you couldn't wait to start the week with Monday morning, this Friday gone. This is the kind of album that has me texting my friends with its name and the words, "just listen", that is all. Trust me. Even if they don't know the genre or artist like that. This is real rap. This is bigger than making dead f###### presidents to represent me. This is hip-hop. And in its purest, uncooked form, there's nothing bigger than that. Hip-hop, hip-hop. Wave your hands in the air. Because this one cares. Forget just Jay. Or just both of them. Rap is back. And it's all thanks to the man inspired by LL Cool J who eventually rocked the bells, like Todd Smith's mama told him to knock them out. Finally Electronica has gone epic. And it's electric. Testimony. Now if only we could get Childish. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Ghost Of Souljah Slim', 'Universal Soldier', 'A.P.I.D.T.A'.
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