Jun 03 2008
New Album Review - Jean Grae - Jeanius
Every Tuesday and Saturday will be a new album review unless there is no new material to review for the week. Tuesday because that’s when most albums drop and Saturday just because.
It’s quite strange that the first new album review on this blog will actually be about an album that’s been around for almost 4 years now. So, in that sense, I’m wrong in calling this album new. On the other hand, you can’t go out to the nearest Best Buy and pick it up because, well, it’s not out yet. Jean Grae and 9th Wonder’s long awaited, heavily anticipated album never actually got a proper release. Which was a shame because from my memory (I haven’t listened to the actual album in a while) it was pretty damn good. However, we’re in luck this time, because despite the fact that every Jean Grae and/or 9th Wonder fan probably has this downloaded somewhere, Blacksmith/Warner Bros. have decided to give the album a proper release on July 8th, 2008. Heck, they even went all out with the album covers and it’s my understanding that you can buy it with one of the four covers shown there (which are in fact all parodies of classics. from top left clockwise: “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” “Dead Serious,” and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx”) Will it be worth it? Should people buy it even though they probably already have a digital copy or two? Well, that’s exactly what this review is gonna tell you.
As this is my first blog I feel that I should give you a rundown of the way I score things:
<6 - Anything less than 6, I’m not even gonna bother with a specific score. Just know it’s not worth the time and if you decide to listen anyway, you have been warned.
6 -Jusssttt worth it to give it one listen.
6.5- Not bad, probably not much replay value though
7- Decent, you may like it
7.5 - An overall good album
8 - A better album
8.5- A great album
9- An excellent album
9.5- Amazing. Some may even say classic.
10- Unf—withable CLASSIC.
So now that that’s cleared up, let’s get on wit it shall we.
1. Intro - It’s called an intro, but fortunately for us, it’s not like other rap intros you’ve heard in which usually there’s some random ad libbing over a second rate beat. In this intro, we’re treated to actual rapping and some good rapping at that.
2. 2 32’s aka Jeanius (ft DP) - Both emcees come on nicely over soulful production from 9th Wonder.
3. Don’t Rush Me - Listen to the third verse. Jan Grae’s usually a great all around rapper but the flow on that verse is a bit awkward. Either I’m crazy, or Jean’s been spending way too much time around Talib Kweli. The song itself? Pretty good.
4. My Story aka The Rain Comes Down - Listening to this track it sounds like Jean’s been spending some time with our boys Slug and Ant of Atmosphere as well. If you don’t know how this track sounds from reading that, guess I gotta spell it out for you. Atmosphere’s a hip hop duo from Minnesota that are known for being freaking amazing, regardless of their sometimes depressing as hell lyrics. So yeah..replace the first part of that sentence with “My Story is a song by Jean Grae” and you get the idea.
5. The Time is Now aka Struggles (ft Phonte) - Phonte’s been one of my favorite post 2000 rappers for a good minute now and although he’s improved vastly since the time this was recorded his verse still sounds great.
6. Billy Killer aka Each Morning - After the momentum of the first five tracks, this song falls kind of flat. Am I the only one that finds the production on this track to be annoying?
7. Think About It - Andddd the momentums back. This track hits and it hits hard.
8. 8 aka Nonsense - Lyrically one of the best tracks so far. Jean kills it.
9. American Pimp aka Stories (ft Median) - I know everyone went crazy over Median’s release last year but I never saw what they saw in the dude. I still don’t see it. He’s a pretty average rapper and this is a pretty average track.
10. This World aka This Girl - This is more like it.
11. Love Thirst aka High - It’s not bad. But it’s boring. And the second half of the song is just instrumental. Which would be fine if the beat was banging. And the random orgasm sounds are to say the least kinda disturbing. Just skip it.
12. Desperada aka Second Chance - More of this, less of Billy Killer. That’s what I always say.
13.Smashmouth (ft K-Hill, Edgar Allen Floe and Joe Scudda) - This track is actually a hidden track that comes on a couple of seconds after Desperada ends. The reason I didn’t combine it with the Desperada review is that Desperada was a great track, while this one could stand to improve. Keep it hidden, it’s not really worth finding.
Final Score - 8.5
It’s more like 8.25, 8.3 but for now, I stand by my 8.5. 13 tracks on the album. 4 of them are absolutely banging, 5 are pretty good (the intro’s actually pretty tight), 2 are average and 2 would’ve been left out in an ideal world. So, worth buying? I would say so. It’s definitely worth the money and if we buy enough, Jean might stop threatening to retire and actually release Pheonix on our asses. Besides, the album covers are worth it alone. I personally am getting am deciding between the Nation of Millions one and the Cuban Linx.
