Vel The Wonder – ‘Joyride’ (Album Review)

It would be in their best interest if rappers placed more importance on wide-reaching social issues of the day over their own personality and brand, but the artist that can do both at the same time is truly gifted. The topics of discussion chosen by Los Angeleno Vel The Wonder, formerly Vel 9, for her sophomore studio album, Joyride, pertain almost exclusively to love, career success and feminism yet are issues that affect her directly. Full of energy and ready to show and prove plus represent for those similarly minded, Vel creates an ambitious, modern, womanly discourse that reveals an almost masculine nature in its toughness but with sharp wordplay and beats that are perfectly in sync with her frame of mind and mood, altogether making for several interesting pieces of hip-hop to observe.

After an intro of quiet lullaby-cries in which she yearns to be loved more in her relationship, partly accusatory of her partner and woe-is-me-sy for her, Vel in contrast goes on to make strong confident statements in between and around her biggest concept songs, which are essentially tracks three and six. A changing romantic connection is described with some elements of storytelling by Vel in “Mirrored,” revealing at the end the true face of her lover, and it’s not a person. How’s that for a metaphor? Firm to say the least, Vel’s coming-of-age, young-womanhood anthem “Woman in the Crowd” refuses to back down with harsh words for rape and higher education (community college specifically) plus sympathies for young girls today who are objectified sexually.

A bunch of decent to solid cuts down the ladder and we come to “Backseat” with its steely urban hard-talk and Kendrick Lamar recognition then “Premeditated”’s “You Don’t Own Me” sample and a violent threat to abort or erase a competitor’s unborn son. Obviously Vel doesn’t just posture throughout her album. In fact she’s no less than darkly intimidating at times, but she does have a kind, wise, caring side, imparting gems like lines saying “if this doesn’t kill me then it makes me grow” from “Passenger” and “the world’s a test so let the lessons make it easier than hard” from “Pursuit of…” and last but not least “it’s not encountering evil, it’s how you counter the evil” in “Woman in the Crowd.”

Vel The Wonder’s Joyride might not be very wonderful due to its dim slow production (that won’t be recalled or remembered as hit-making) and the absence of singers but mostly because of its narrowly picked social issues, which are not many and ones that cannot be related to easily by those outside of her own niche-y clique. Vel is a good emcee but she’s not always extremely careful to make every word memorable, sacred or effective, regularly tossing out backpack-type rhymes that are not crispy clear at first instance but pushed through nonetheless. Plus the album tends to get caught up in accepting and advancing the whole bulk of its counterculture ideology with little time left over for independent “cafeteria”-style belief-selection. Even with all that considered, Vel in her sport is a surefire emcee-killer, the good kind, for the most part, with love and loyalty for real hip-hop music and not for archaic regressive thoughts or practices that are likely to devalue her or hold her back. All such traits are exemplified to the fullest extent in Joyride. (3 out of 5 stars)

Hip Hop Album Reviews, Week Ending Aug. 18, 2017

New albums by Otis Reed, Declaime and Esh are as mind-expanding as anything we’ve seen so far this year. Otis Reed returns as a King and a G in his fourth LP, the decorated Declaime is still a young free spirit though many albums into his seasoned career, and relative newcomer Esh from the Northeast(ern Seaboard) is climbing the ranks at rapid pace.

Otis King: Return of the G by Otis Reed (Palmtree Entertainment)

With Otis King: Return of the G, Fresno’s Otis Reed follows his 2013 self-titled debut plus 2015 albums Otissy and The Mind Activation of Otis Reed AND 2016 mixtape Otis King with a career builder unlike any other. Reed may show a hood-unique sense of humor in “Woke AF” and “Taco Truck Pimpin’” and simply kick things off with coolness, in “Coolin’” and “Chill With You (Janet)” of course, but later in, the serious sage delves into racial disharmony and extremely urgent family problems that are tearing us apart and need attention. Before that, in “Why Would I” for example, we see through his stories the rough surroundings he’s risen from so we know he’s a legitimate, authentic messenger.

Reed’s discussion of sobering family issues that basically makes the album begins earlier but picks up the most speed in “Suffocating” and doesn’t decelerate until the end of track seventeen. Reed flips the light switch on how blacks are still stereotyped and uniformly profiled in negative ways, truly conveying how terribly frustrating the system is to its victims, subjects if that’s a more appropriate word. Afterward, Reed is critical of other crimes and foolishness he’s seen, especially the disintegration of the family unit in the hood.

Sadly but bravely, in “Lil Men,” Reed puts out in the open air that dynamics in the homes he’s witnessed are just dirt poor, sometimes nonexistent. He admits to a plummeting shortage of character, morals and values in his kin through “On The Low” stories, and the stone cold “Gramfather” sheds embarrassing light on fatherlessness and the ill placement of social media above both time with blood relatives and a real presence in the lives of those we’re supposed to be close to.

In a way, albeit subtly, Reed recognizes the higher societal pressures working on the poor because “Smile on Yo Face” acknowledges the difficulty folks have in holding their families together, without some of those major elements like guns and drugs involved. Inspiration and Reed’s further ability to relate to hard times germinate through “Head to the Sky” and “Growing Pains” which lead to “Black Washed (Jukebawks Remix),” a questioning song on racial prejudices and how some inflexibly box-in people of certain races and expect them to act and behave a certain way, placing labels and assumptions in the process.

Reed glues all of these loaded necessary topics together with fine exact wordplay, and the calm cruising beats made in Cali coast along as the man gets all his thoughts out in a composed relaxed manner. Reed is real, not fake. He can rhyme and flow with the best of them and he brings concerned powerful messages and love on a positive note, bringing us intimately close to his world. These are all marks of a true man and emcee, not a conjured contrived corporate rapper or anything close to it; therefore, in Return of the G, Reed puts the “G” in gentleman. Not gangster. (5 out of 5 stars)

Young Spirit by Declaime (eOne Music/SomeOthaShip Connect)

Venerable and venerated veteran Declaime, or Dudley Perkins, of Oxnard, California looks to be nowhere near hanging it up. After all these years, stays on multiple underground labels (including Stones Throw Records and Mello Music Group) and a grand sixteen albums, the comfortably conscious emcee continues to boldy go where not many rappers have gone before. Ever confident, Perkins these days opts to rep his own imprint, SomeOthaShip Connect, above all others, and though his latest LP endeavor, Young Spirit, came to fruition with the help of eOne Music, the reliable two-name rap artist has proven time and time again to be a very formidable independent artist.

Perkins lambastes and blasts criminals, criminality and the evil forces of the world as he’s done so often before but in fresh form once again, assisted by a new assortment of guests (Blu, Aloe Blacc, Saul Williams among them), an alternative score orchestrated by his partner Georgia Anne Muldrow, and of course—his conviction. He stands up tall for what’s good and right for the people and remains committed to doing right himself. Later on he goes in on his misled childhood of gang banging and seeing his supportive mom get sent away to jail and makes clear that he eventually saw the harm in his ways, or in other words the impetus that drove him onto a more pure spiritual path.

Though just one part of the song it’s in, a plug in favor of veganism and clean eating is inserted like a lifeline in “Pattie & Stokley,” and Perkins expresses a testament of love, dedication and loyalty to his life-mate in “Fantastic Fanatic,” further reinforcing his relationship commitments in “For A Lifetime.” After midpoint and past some great but lesser notable tracks comes the two part back-to-back combo of “Cop’s Ain’t Sh*t,” Perkins’ justified protest against murderous police officers that is riskily, perhaps haphazardly titled but necessary for extending a number of severe legitimate grievances.

With the best stuff Young Spirit has to offer, the end features the ingeniously conceived, perfectly executed triple play of “Misfit,” “Cake Boss” and “Check Yo Head.” The first relates the hopelessness and twisted turns of the ghetto with seemingly nowhere to go but down unless one refuses all the garbage around him or her, the second exhibits entertainers (rap acts in this case) who sell out for nasty gimmicks and stereotypes just to get rich and the third calls for us to adjust ourselves mentally and to recalibrate our cognition for proper health.

Dudley Perkins as Declaime is once more a freedom fighter in Young Spirit. In his low casual fluffy tone, he brings out in his speech all the strong progressive attitudes one must have to rise above the monotony, drudgery and wickedness in life and though his delivery is not akin to a Treach, Eminem or Tech N9ne type, his power of alternative advanced thought is liberating and something the former have not showcased to the extent that Perkins does in this album alone. For all these reasons, Young Spirit is freely and easily excellent. (4 out of 5 stars)

Darwin’s Frankenstein by Esh (AR Classic Records/Perfect Time Publishing)

Hip-hop still has its regions. For example it’s hard to replicate the sounds and accents of gritty East Coast rap all across the country but true consciousness in hip-hop knows no coast. One East Coast native, Esh (or Esh the Monolith), by way of Providence, RI to Boston, is no iron clad street hustler or bully but rather a cerebral metaphor-master who is naturally attracted to analyzing social phenomena through verse. He’s been an enthusiastic collaborator for a few albums already and with his non-joint project Darwin’s Frankenstein fresh out and continuing his smart musical trend, Esh is still proving he can entertain, educate and enlighten all at the same time.

A wise slam-jam called “Release The Hounds” handles a variety of social devastations and then self-centeredness and more specifically conceited unsubstantial rappers get their masks pulled off in “Important Boy” only to open for yet another quality gem, “Cavemen with Computers,” which is directed at beginning to dismantle our obsession with electronic devices. Esh alludes to the powerful and influential in “Believe You” and how they use force and deception to entrap the people. Along similar lines, “Earth Is Eden (To Men On Mars)” gives the speakerphone to demonstrator Esh as he warns of climate change and environmental degradation by man.

Reel feelings (pun intended) on sex and sexual anticipation are torrid and visual thanks to Esh’s lucid delivery in the sensual “Red Velvet”; the posse cut “Encyclopedia Britannica,” which features Mr. Lif and his tacit endorsement of Esh, sparkles as the guests shine like stars; and the conclusion love-song “I Got You” is the perfect close to end the album on a kind warm note. With brilliantly poetic flows and such big timeless subjects, Esh is, like his best peers, the embodiment of a true master of ceremonies, a witty wordy prophet and stylish vocal activist explaining like a pro a bunch if not all of the world’s ups and downs, in super clever fashion. (4 out of 5 stars)

SkyBlew & SublimeCloud – Destined: The [R]Evolution (Album Review)

The life and times of SkyBlew have never been easy. As a child, the illustrative emcee born Mario Farrow was shuffled to and fro from family and friends to foster and adoption homes, sometimes for the better, other times for the worse, but Farrow made it through to healthy young adulthood. To this day, though he enjoys awards and recognition for being Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s preeminent hip-hop artist, the conscious positive SkyBlew, who is also independent, works tremendously hard to reach the audiences that mainstream acts are given access to so easily. In short, he earns all of his accolades. Practiced at releasing multiple quality albums per year, SkyBlew has reached the feat again this year, with the followup to February’s Dreams, Toonami and Jazzier Days, entitled Destined: The [R]Evolution, a June 2017 issue from the visionary rhymer.

The sequel to Sky’s Destined: The Rebirth EP from last year, [R]Evolution is produced by beat prodigy SublimeCloud (Christian Whitson), who also served on the boards for Rebirth. This time we get a full LP with [R]Evolution and song after song of hearty wholesome rap that paints pictures – but keep in mind Sky’s staple saying: he doesn’t rap, he paints the sky, blew! Opening to memory-forming jazz, a “Tin Man” sample from ’70s band America, and of course Sky’s signature positivity, [R]Evolution can do nothing but hook us in atop before it gets even weightier in “Autumn, Lovely Convo!” with wisdom on everything coming at a price, notes on ambition, ATCQ-love and more classic rock sample-strength.

Sky succinctly summarizes the pleasure-from-pain principle in “HM04!” rapping, “I suffered, it made me tougher, through the hate became a lover,” referring to his own growth experience. He shakes his head at a rap game of greatly expanding head counts yet with little compelling material throughout the vast field. Still he stays himself, an aficionado of animation and worldly awareness. Listeners will find at least one loaded line to love per song. The classic metaphor of words as food is reimagined perfectly in “Chill, We Coolin’ Off!” where Sky says:

[I] cook food for thought so, here goes my recipe, psych! You ain’t gettin’ it, I’m thinking they have to but the flow is too much to process like fast foods.

Around claps, light piano and sax, Sky brims with dreams, aspirations and true knowledge but admits “there’s just gotta be more to living than labor and woe, we offer hope to the globe then after, we go.”

Look out because next, SkyBlew will melt your heart, in “Sailor Moon & Stars!” and soul-weaver Donovan and his soft song vocals add an irreplaceable suppleness over this pretty love-piece’s happy piano lines and joyful admissions. Naturally the heat goes up again afterwards. Sky drops some of his heaviest thoughts in “Speak That Breeze!”, this time regarding the terrible effects of negativity but with hope at the end:

Most cast away their dreams ‘cause they fear rejection and failure. Look at the election. That’s proof anything is possible in this nation of idiots, humanity becoming insidious. My city ain’t the prettiest but I still rep to the death. Just give us your all until there’s none left.

Of course SkyBlew knows there are many fabulous people out there but it’s also true that there are enough of the other kind to make a nation as he says, if only a small one at most.

The elegant SublimeCloud and the eloquent SkyBlew make the album’s step down to the close smooth yet impactful still. Hip guitar flicks and drum snaps in “Pen Tama!” move to more committed resolved wisdom from our generous wiz (never dumb) in “Movement of the Destined!” and “Parallel Echoes!” provides the calm cap-off of Sky stating where he’s from, what he’s about, where he’s going and how he’s gonna get there. Sky the “Colorful Dreamer” hasn’t an equal ratio of hard to soft obviously, seeing as how he’s mostly warm and bright, but he makes it work because one – it’s what the game’s been sorely missing – and two – his background and personality have given him allowance to be as such. SkyBlew with incredible help from the gifted talented SublimeCloud firmly takes his place next to the most progressive optimistic emcees of all time thanks to Destined: The [R]Evolution and the rest of his catalog. (5 out of 5 stars)

Mr. Lif & Akrobatik – “Resolution” (Album Review)

The second collaborative LP by Perceptionist emcees Mr. Lif and Akrobatik comes at a darker or as dark a time as their first (Black Dialogue) did back in 2005, when fresh wounds from 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were still bleeding heavily with just about no signs of abating. Along with DJ Fakts One and El-P playing major producer roles on their Definitive Jux debut, Lif and Ak delivered a fine combination of conscious cool hip-hop to enlighten and refresh the people. Twelve years later, Mr. Lif and Akrobatik return together again to release their sophomore in a like ravaged era of war, confusion and economic malaise, this time without Fakts One or Def Jux but with a new assortment of beat makers for the one and only Mello Music Group. It’s safe to say that what they’ve turned out, the Resolution LP, is a clear confident statement set to thoroughly enjoyable music.

Our heroes of rhyme pull the pants down on the one percent, corporations, the government in collusion with both and just the greedy, brutal and violent, problematic police included, in ghetto settings especially, where they seem to do most of their dirt. Lif and Akrobatik have energy and conviction, with many relatable messages one after the other, meaning they know what they’re saying to be true. In “Lemme Find Out,” the two raise suspicions of technology and the huge part it plays in everyone’s life, and “When Push Comes To Shove” makes time for the necessary elements of romance.

With no truly dull moments, Resolution does reveal spots not as attention-grabbing as others. The proceeding trio of tracks, “Let’s Battle,” “Free At Last” and “Dirty Drumz,” while good for advancing the spirit of competition, self-determination and real hip-hop, feels more like a connector of the beginning and end than a bridge or bond with material equally awesome as what sandwiches it. The dynamic duo nevertheless manage to make their finale as splendid as anything preceding it. Lif and Ak rap on something everybody’s been guilty of at one time or another – control obsession – in “Grab Hold” sharing that there’s no end or win when you’re trying to grab hold of what you can’t control.

Supported by a calming backdrop of smooth jazz and soul, the last two songs, “A Different Light” and “Resolution,” are beautiful commitments of the mind about surviving hard times in the first and pure thoughts on everything from optimism, wisdom and positivity to compassion, perseverance and care in the second. Instead of junk food rap, try Resolution, which offers healthy artistic beat-creations from the likes of Willie Evans Jr., Synesthetic Nation and Paten Locke and which doesn’t stoop to name-calling, foul play or debauchery thanks to Mr. Lif and Akrobatik’s dedication to spreading the good word and nothing but. The New Year’s celebrations of 2017 are long past but it’s never too late to make a resolution, or a revolution for that matter. (4 out of 5 stars)

Nitty Scott – “Creature!” (Album Review)

Robust mami of rhythmic rhyme, Nitty Scott, from Michigan, and Florida… and Brooklyn, returns with her second studio album, Creature, building onto her cool conscious catalog, which includes last year’s Westside Highway Story collaboration with Joell Ortiz and Bodega Bamz, her studio debut The Art of Chill from 2014, and a trio of mixtapes before that. Acclaimed for her authentic emceeing and soul on wax, Scott releases the long awaited Creature on the newly minted Indigenous Digital and in it rides for ethnic pride and independent womanhood on real spit and varying production-treats.

Bumping dance beats, female- and Latin/Afro-pride, just a little Caribbean flavor but plenty kindness for her people paint the top of Creature with colorful hues, if only for a section of the listening public. Scott does as one would expect in songs “Pxssy Powah,” the mildly political “Don’t Shoot!” and the drug-laden “Kaleidoscopes!” She comes with resolve and power though, even if she drifts into filler and braggadocio or sounds like Nicki Minaj in her title track though it’s unlikely that she consciously tried to relive her “Monster”-remake moment in the latter.

Nevertheless, this vibrant Creature has heart and spirit, especially when Nitty Scott is rapping nice and quick. Only some will relate to everything Scott raps about and what greets the ears is nothing very challenging to the status quo. Still, Creature excels because of its array of rap-, song- and music-textures, providing a nice experience if essentially a new spin on select trends. Nitty Scott does well in the satisfying set, but it’s probably wise to not immediately classify this creature as any new species of hip-hop music. (3 out of 5 stars)

Kristoff Krane – “Kairos, Pt. 1” (Album Review)

With Minneapolis artist and emcee Kristoff Krane and his music, you either listen casually and then go back to the matrix of big industry rap (the wrong reaction) or… you fall to the floor in awe of discovering another unique, progressive rapper – the correct reaction. A new guardian of rap music, rising from his powerful projects from the mid to late 2000s and into the 2010s, Krane (or Christopher Keller) comes with positivity and useful messages with his “stream-of-consciousness” flowing, and musically and instrumentally he is far from a novice. Krane’s latest, Kairos Pt. 1, is his fifth solo album, released on F I X, and produced by Graham O’Brien. Mostly serious, quite witty at times but deeply philosophical and reflective with spades of metaphors, Kairos 1 finds Krane vastly more allegorical than before but no less sharp or insightful.

On the positive side, Krane has an energy and a charging force that resolves to focus on good and keep moving. On the other hand, his voice here sometimes finds meaningfulness in the meaningless, and the hopeless, expressing the colorfully moving, knockabout thoughts of a worried mind and a restless conscience. The style then pairs like a match made in nirvana with O’Brien’s drum-rackety tracks coupled with airy overlays and echoey voice filtering for a very mixed-terrain soundscape. Krane can be unsettling, and unsettled, same goes for the music. Still, what might be the greatest treasure is the man’s impressive exhibition of flow, his various speeds and cadences, and voice stretching. Technically, he’s challenged his vocal abilities more so here than ever before, as his fluid and seamless yet excitingly articulated delivery is put to exquisite use, in a variety of modes.

What’s lacking is rigidity, but that’s a good thing in this case. Krane and O’Brien’s measures are melded, interconnected with nary a blip or pause. Certain bars and lines are repeated for emphasis, sometimes in a chorus-capacity, other times not, blended and tucked in in such a way that Krane seems to challenge classic rap song structure. Likewise, segues to soft singing sections are super smooth. The album’s several repeated lines — mantras, or recurring thoughts of the narrator in another sense — are very telling. Krane is puzzled by circumstances reiterating the line, “how in the world did it come to this?” and portrays denial with “I’m not my thoughts” but he’s also optimistically directed with the refrain, “till everybody is free,” truly showcasing different mental turns throughout the LP.

A few genius song pieces emerge as particularly stunning, though the entire project shines effusively (don’t get me wrong). The murder of one element of mother nature at the top of “Head Stone” is brilliant and unforgettable – maybe a commentary on climate change even. The mixed thoughts on religion and criminality in “Forgiven Blood” and “Confession” never lead to hardline stance-taking but they equally examine inquisition versus faith, and law-breaking versus rule-bending respectively, recognizing that each side of either duality offers something important to consider.

Like all of Kristoff Krane’s previous releases, Kairos Pt. 1 is thoroughly and incredibly pleasing with plenty to think about, wonderful lyrical wizardry, and a drenching of mood-befitting background music. The fun is in pondering and interpreting, to an emotive soundtrack, the myriad analogies and creative messaging that the rap-and-rapping-expert in Krane has crafted for us. In this way, these talks are obviously not formatted in everyday casual wording or conversation-style speech but what we have is another amazing load of intellectual art-rap from Krane’s free associative mind, an audio amusement park of verbal textures, ideas and sounds, and a great time for those who live and die for advanced hip-hop music. (5 out of 5 stars)

Hip Hop Album Reviews, Week Ending June 30, 2017

Five-star album alert! And it’s not because of 4:44, the new album by you-know-who. The end-of-June/beginning-of-July weekend is blessed by Crooked, the new set by fresh LA emcee Propaganda, whose music is the opposite of propaganda as a matter of fact.

Crooked by Propaganda (Humble Beast Records)

Propaganda (Jason Petty) from Los Angeles has never been the type of Christian rapper to namedrop the “Lord” every two or three bars or rap a lot of vague statements of faith. Instead, he opts for profound reflection on the conflicting issues at the center of human existence in his music. In this day and age where emcees of God run the gamut from loosely religious (Kanye West) to joyfully ecclesiastic (Chance The Rapper) to zealously devout (Lecrae and most others) to clearheaded and truly concerned (O’hene Savant), Propaganda is another different breath of fresh air in the field, focusing on the types of core problems that Jesus himself would actually focus on if he were here today.

Prop’s new LP, Crooked, is a multifaceted examination of human troubles and another unique addition to his growing discography. And it’s comprehensive, going through a ton before it’s all over. Going along with the theme of the album title, “Crooked Ways” intros by testifying to incredibly terrible contradictions, tragedies and inconsistencies in society and basically how ridiculous things are currently. Propaganda raps like a highly skilled poet so it’s no wonder he’s excellent at spoken word. “It’s Complicated” does just that on the topics of self-betrayal and refusal to love who we are on the inside in exchange for ugly masks picked by you decide.

Riding along on super smooth production that’s hardly generic as a pleasant surprise, Prop continues rocking us, with thoughts on the West and the Ultra Right at odds with the rest of the world (“Cynical”), hip-hop music how it was and how it was easier to fall in love with in earlier times (“Slow Cook”), a native’s love for Southern California (“Do Know Wrong”), and the shaky reasons for and results of gentrification (“Gentrify,” feel the light salsa music tinge in the beat there). Next comes a big one, the interlude-like “I Hate Cats.” Propaganda shows how racism and bigotry are like how some people claim to hate cats and think dogs are better, in this outstanding analogy, which really proves how pathetic the phenomenon of hate actually is.

The content never steps down from being as loaded as Prop can make it. “Darkie” looks at the self-consciousness of “colored” people and how inferiority complexes are common in them if embroiled in a white skin preferring culture. The climax of Crooked in many rights, “It’s Not Working (The Truth)” is then a meditation on segregation, poverty and alienation of the powerless have-nots and it also seems to ask toward the end if we will feel better if things do change, a bit nihilistic to this end yes but deep, exploratory and inclusive of both sides of the issue indeed, plus Propaganda might be alluding to the imperfection of a perfect civilization – what would there be to fix, to motivate us to fight for better in life in that situation? The bottom line is there’s a lot of work to be done as things are right now.

Compared to typical mainstream matter, the wind-down of the album starting with “Andrew Mandela” feels like so much more than a wind-down, as its inspirations include civil rights and democracy in the face of injustice, hard motherhood and athlete drug abuse, a truly wonderful change on earth that is yet to come, and the fact that we can’t judge what we’re not or have never been – just some of Prop’s final thoughts in this section. Through Crooked, Propaganda gives us the gift that keeps on giving – wisdom, and although he never gets too heavy, he no doubt provides plenty to think about across many a repeat spin. If you really want to know what it’s like to be conscious and caring and hopefully be inspired to become those things yourself, head straight to Crooked. Stay woke everyone. (5 out of 5 stars)

4:44 by Jay-Z (Roc Nation)

How does the average person feel about a classically fine hip-hop emcee who seems to become a bigger business mogul with each successive album? However the media tell them to. “Jigga” Jay-Z is not only that but he continues to make each of his new albums look larger than life via special promotion strategies and release methods. 4:44, Jay’s new album for 2017 and his thirteenth solo LP overall, is the Roc-A-Fella leader’s first to be dropped exclusively on his Tidal online music service since the streaming source opened in 2014, marking a milestone in his music career and a watershed moment in how the face and brand of Hov are shared with and viewed by the public.

Jay’s last album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, was not delivered on Tidal. In 2013, that one was given away as a digital download but only to Samsung customers, forcing folks without Samsung to pirate it in order to listen in before its wide release came some days later. Similarly, 4:44 is being offered only to Sprint customers and those Tidal subscribers who signed up for the service well before June 30. If you wanted to listen to the album on the 30th without having Sprint and without having signed up for Tidal in time, you had to tune in to iHeartRadio at certain time slots during the day and only on that day. Sound exclusive? Yes indeed. Too exclusive for what the album actually offers? Yes.

How and why can Jay-Z keep his art so private, and is it right? Is it appropriate? If it’s not easy to get, won’t few have it in their hands at the end of the day? Maybe but remember that Jay-Z has all the wealth-begotten pull and clout to get the mainstream marketing machine on his side to make anything he issues look like the best thing since sliced bread. He’s doing it now with Sprint to get more paid subscribers to Tidal plus that good Sprint money, just like in 2013, but for that good Samsung money back then. The journey to jump through some hoops to get the new music might have been worth it for Magna Carta Holy Grail but it’s not the case with 4:44. It’s an average album and one might as well wait for its wide release to peep it. At the moment, Jay-Z and his associates are basically just using the idea of a great album to collect more revenue from patrons of their stores, on the web or otherwise. Like it or not, it might be working because of the good to very good reviews it’s received so far, unless the consumer is properly informed that is…

Produced nicely and soulfully by artisan beat specialist No ID, 4:44 has its moments, as cliched as that sounds, however it’s an expectable product from Jay-Z. The forty-seven year old rhymer, businessman, husband and now father of three dangles in front of us a slim ten tracks of casual thoughts and more than some pop culture soap opera clocking in at a little over thirty minutes. Vocally, it never gets very comprehensive or deep philosophically, and Jay-Z, in some of his most laid-back spitting ever, is less spirited than his early-career self. He takes turns saying things appealing to all and other things appealing to only a select few, tapering off toward the end with filler instead of building where the album needs it.

Personal to an extent but politically lacking if not politically truant altogether, the thing has Jay getting tender at various points about his daughter(s), motherhood, memories and something akin to a society in society at the end, but he’s also cynical in rapping about unfaithful fans and traitorous friends in “Kill Jay-Z” and “Caught Their Eyes.” Likewise the rich man in the rap-capitalist cannot escape from his bars. In “The Story of OJ,” Jay raps at no little length about his real estate investments and property values over time, but who’s itching to hear about that besides the Trumps of the world? Shouldn’t Jay be discussing racism and upward mobility there more so than his own business endeavors? Isn’t that what the song title suggests? Also in “Family Feud” are some comments on excessive wealth that are intended to be light but are far from. Jay raps of “no such thing as an ugly billionaire, I’m cute” (wrong) and “what’s better than one billionaire? Two” (wrong again).

At one point, within the stuttering, slow quiet drill-frills and sampled soul vocals of “Smile,” Jay mentions that it’s just the way of the world that there are drug dealers and jewel dealers of blood diamonds and whatever else. He’s saying he’s okay with it, that he doesn’t care too much about it. Talk about laissez-faire. This impartiality to inequality and crime is a turnoff. What’s also a turnoff in an inexcusable way is the famous “4:44”/apology-to-Be-for-messing-around song. It’s all very well and good for what it can do but if Jay did in fact cheat on his wife (it could be a made-up tabloid story), apologizing doesn’t change the fact that it happened. Infidelity is not ok as long as you say sorry afterward.

In short, 4:44 doesn’t have the power, spark or duration that previous Jay-Z albums have, and of course, if Roc Nation is still in bed with Universal or one of the other majors, that goes a long way in explaining its adoration for rags-to-too-many-riches and the other indecencies that are flapped about on the project. Plus Jay-Z is getting quite a bit older, AND he has little kiddos now so he should be more socially responsible with his words than he is here, and if not for them then for the tens, hundreds of millions if not a billion or more he speaks to through the music. So much more good could have been done for humankind had this album contained better messages. (1 out of 5 stars)