the 18th letter....

Review: There Goes the Neighborhood x Jedi Jae (@newjackswizzy)

There Goes the Neighborhood: Jedi Jae x Don Cannon

Artist: Jedi Jae (Jae, Jae Swizz, Swizzy, @NewJackSwizzy on twitter)

First time I ever heard Jae, was on The Aftermath’s “4, 3, 2,1” where he penned a nice verse, laced it, and dropped the line “punchlines after punchlines like Sugar Ray” after which an ad-lib drops “Kaaaa-YO!” Accurate description for There Goes the Neighborhood, his latest tape to drop 6/15, a lyrical gift for all of 12 tracks (as there are three bonus cuts that have been leaked prior to Swizzy’s drop date). Sort of short for the mixtapes most of us are used to: 8-10 nice cuts among 10 or so more trash songs we could have done without. Even including the bonus tracks, Jedi Jae delivers an above average tape for the both the casual listener and the hip-hop purist, alienating neither group.

There Goes the Neighborhood starts off with a typical intro, then dives right into one of the better tracks on the tape “Viva La Familia”, which will probably be familiar to most listeners as “Final Hour” by Big Sean, but Swizzy does the beat something dirty.2:37 worth of verbal work that the original would have never seen. “Familia” sets the listener up for what they’ll find on songs like “No Breaks”, and the bonus “Nothing like the Radio” (Listen to “Nothin’ Like the Radio” here); full-tilt rap, zero filler.  “Strictly 4 My Ninjas” is probably one of these as well; Jedi Jae delivers some good jabs like:

“Ninja assassin, assassin’s creed

Where we believe in higher learning so we pass the weed

Underground rap trying to set the masses free

At the same time getting paper like Master P”

“Smoke x Chill” is just what the name implies. Jae still offers us quality bars, but gives a little more than the harder lyrics for a song that’s easy to listen to when you want the mood mellow. Zeta is a great addition here on the hook, and on the song “Late Nights and Early Mornings”, where even Swizzy notes, “Can’t front, Jae Swizzy got the best team”. The truth of this shines through with the artists he invited to appear, as the features on There Goes the Neighborhood are good, and most of them hang with Swizzy for most of their verses but a few bars. None of them quite as good as Boogz on the bonus track “Nothing Like the Radio”, where it seems like both artists feed off each other WELL, so I’m hopeful about a rumor buzzing about regarding future projects.

Only gripe I find with the tape is the hooks of quite a few songs, which leaves them a bit incomplete. Takes nothing away from Jedi Jae’s true writing ability for each verse, just on certain songs the hooks fall flat. “Strictly 4 My Ninjas” is one of the offenders, where the song could have been FLAWLESS, it’s more or less just “better” than most of the other songs on the tape when the hook drops. Nevertheless, songs like “Ninjas” and “Champagne for Champions” still shine through.

Jedi Jae bounces out on “Condos”, giving head-nod inducing delivery on the mixtape’s official final cut, not letting off the gas just because the listener reached the end of the music. There Goes the Neighborhood is an exceptional work. Ratings System employed, this album-quality “mixtape” is probably an 8/10, better than most, room for improvement, but still leave you anticipating the next release.-r

Listen to “Nothin’ Like the Radio”

“sins of my mother”

sins of my mother
like double memories
seems the things that haunted her
have found their way to me.
feeling like i’m finding footsteps
in places i’ve already seen
and persistent pain ive always felt
remembering my mother’s dreams
shouldering your mother’s burdens
while balancing your own-
bitter words, bitter heart, and have a bitter breakdown?
a bitter mind? a bitter soul? or do you find a way out?
out.
get out.
that’s what i did.
that’s what she did.
and that was her sin.
torment all the while.

my god.

thinking bout my god and being draped in his arms
breathing in his warmth
then im reminded by the silence that we better where we are
cause the love we got is dang’rous
but its bles-sed and its charmed
cause i love you then i love you when i wanna do you harm
like
let me take your life with lips and hips
like
let me taste your soul
put your seed in your earth god
like
lets find the rhythm where our souls reverb, right……..

-r