Jay Rock, Top Dawg Entertainment's original star, is back once again. Almost 3 years after his sophomore effort 90059, he has returned to bring us Redemption, another tight project full of grimy and dark hip-hop. Perhaps the most underrated of the Black Hippy crew, Rock continues TDE's consistent run of remarkable quality, which by now has cemented itself into hip-hop's history with almost ten years of fantastic rap albums. Although he missteps noticeably on a handful of cuts, Redemption is a fine addition to his label's growing catalogue, and a solid entry into his own discography.
Just like last time, he begins energetically and excitedly with 'The Bloodiest'. He's both a wary and a threatening man, warning us that "So many n****s be wishin' they was you bro / Same n****s that hit you with that, "I love you bro"" before turning around and declaring "When I sound off, you a groundhog, that's a casket and a pillow waitin'" on the next verse. His snarly attitude is only enhanced further on the album - on standout 'ES Tales', the song opens with the ominous intro chant that DMX used for 'X Is Coming' before Rock launches aggressively into tales about the street - the gunplay, the brawls, the incarcerations, the snitching - over the most sinister and menacing instrumental I've heard this year. The bass booms deafeningly loud, the drums steadily pace forward, and the atmosphere envelops completely, all while contrasted by an 8-bit Mario sample that rings every second beat. It works extremely well, and is a perfect example of Jay Rock's descriptive and lyrical talent, and showcases the style of production he works best with. Where he doesn't work well, on the other hand, are the smoother, lighter, radio-friendly, trap-laden rap tracks he attempts. Rock must have 3 feet, because that's how many he puts in his mouth on this album - 'Knock It Off', 'Tap Out', and 'WIN' are all total misfires. The first is painfully generic, and his high-pitched vocals on the chorus directly combat his strengths, one of which being his low-register, grimy voice. The second is perhaps the most bearable of the lot, as Rock opts to allow Jeremih to sing in his stead, but the instrumental is no more inspiring and the lyrical theme of the track just reeks redundancy as it adds to the infinite-sized list of rap songs about how good the artist is at pleasing women. Meanwhile, 'WIN' is a miserable attempt at recreating 'Humble'. Repetitive, sing-along lyrics, check - "Win win, win, win, win (yeah) / Fuck everything else, win, win, win, win (win)" - blaring trumpets, cheaply attempting to snatch the audience's ear and doing a complete 180-degree turn from the sound of the rest of Redemption, check - endless ticking snares and trap drums, check - it doesn't suit his style at all, and is quite a bewildering and unsatisfying way for him to end his album. Now, with that out of the way, I can talk about the rest of the album - which is good. Rock picks up the consistent sonic palette he used on 90059, and uses it to make another solid set of great songs. Cuts like 'Rotation 112th' add a fantastic string line on top of rapid-fire drumming to match the crazy tempo Rock sets on the microphone, and 'OSOM' slows it down, adds some groove, and invites J. Cole to rap from the perspective of a helpless drug fiend; "but I'm slightly throwed off / And I might need Zoloft, but for now these Xannies'll do / Hear the sound, a manic depressive". Since KOD, Cole's verses have been improving steadily, sounding less sleepy and more enthusiastic, and here is no exception. Jay Rock's contributions to the song are also great - his mellow, chanted, SiR-assisted singing is much more effective here than it was on 'Knock It Off' and his two verses remain grounded in the streets and confrontations he faces; "Pressure bust pipes like a gun fight, I ain't never bring a knife to it". The remaining guest cast he enlists is not expansive, with the remaining three not mentioned so far in this review being Future, Kendrick and SZA, and each bring their own strengths to the album. Lead single 'King's Dead' appears without Kendrick's verse - but with Future's pig-squealing, kicked-in-the-groin rasping in all of it's glory. Hearing Future's normal voice over different production than his usual trap is refreshing, but after almost 6 months of memes, ridicule and disbelief over his regrettable contribution of the song, it's confusing that everyone involved still OK'ed this and allowed it to reach Jay Rock's 3rd studio album. Kendrick instead appears at the back end of the album on 'Wow Freestyle' and while it's certainly not one of his best guest appearances, he and Rock trading bars back and forth is a potent display of how connected they are as rappers and only further proves the threat they pose together, more than 5 years since 'Money Trees'. Lastly, on the penultimate title track, SZA appears to unquestionably obliterate every guest artist on the entire project. I want to take this moment to appreciate her growth since her appearance on 90059's 'Easy Bake' - even then her singing was formidable, but now it's somehow infinitely more powerful. Her performance is incredible - practically oozing soul, character, with a perfect control of voice and pitch - completely robbing Jay Rock of the spotlight on his own song. It's every bit as fantastic as it was on her debut Ctrl, and is absolutely my favourite sung performance this year. She truly is TDE's secret weapon (even if less of a secret than before 2017) and if her vocals truly have become permanently damaged since recording this, music may have lost it's most promising rising star. Redemption captures Jay Rock at his peak. His ability to create the hardcore hip-hop that he does is one sorely missed by other artists in the mainstream in 2018, and his craft feels important and calculated to him. The effortless success of tracks like 'Broke +-' show just how capable a rap artist he is, and he deserves every bit as much recognition as his Black Hippy peers. Unfortunately held back by his misjudgments, Redemption could have been even more than it is if not for the three blunders he makes (the three songs make up almost a quarter of the album) - but when he otherwise delivers such consistent quality, it's hard to not recognize what he has accomplished here. An admirable followup to his respectable sophomore album, Redemption continues TDE's momentum, which at this point, still shows no sign of slowing down. 78/100 Edit: this review was originally first posted on 17/6/2018 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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