Jay Electronica the man and the musician is somewhat shrouded in mystery, his ascendance to greatness is well documented in the media but not so well documented on record. At the end of the last decade he dropped instant classics Exhibit A & Exhibit C produced by the effortlessly soulful Just Blaze. An early release Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) was leaked on MySpace suggesting a naive approach to his prospective career or maybe a corny attempt at drumming up some word of mouth. Whatever the reasoning, there’s no denying that lyrically Jay Electronica is on a higher plane. With the bastardisation/evolution of Hip Hop arguably more evident today than at any point since the conception of the great genre, it’s refreshing to get back to the essence of the sound. Jay is equal parts intelligence and style, albeit a jaunty off kilter style. Hip Hop has been overdue an emcee that can tick all of the boxes, for a long time I’ve been struggling to see where the next Mos Def, Com Sense or Andre3000 might come from. A friend of mine commented that Jay has the sound of Biggie if he wasn’t so fat which brought a smile to my face, personally I see a style more akin to Nas at times. No doubt true hip hop fans will be awaiting his debut album with child-like anticipation.
Check out this Fireside Chat with Jay on RBMA Radio…
Here’s a nice but loooong interview with Jay…
