A lot of Rap/Hip Hop albums have been released in 2018, thus far, some great, some not so great. This is not the case for Watts, California rapper Jay Rock and his newest album, Redemption, which is the latest topic for this issue of What’s Spinning Me.
Redemption was released earlier this year on June 15, 2018, Jay Rock’s most recent release since his 2015 album 90059. Redemption was released through Top Dawg Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album features a list of producers; Mike Will Made It, Anthony Tiffith, Hit-Boy, Sounwave, and Boi-1da. Jay Rock also had a few guests on the album; Jeremih, J. Cole, Future, SZA, and Kendrick Lamar.
Jay Rock speaks on an array of topics in the album Redemption, everything from the projects, being broke, street crimes, a motorcycle accident, self reflection, and redeeming oneself. The song King’s Dead ft. Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake, was featured on the Black Panther movie soundtrack. King’s Dead was also the first single to be released from the album Redemption, followed by singles; WIN, The Bloodiest, and Rotation 112th. Redemption is Jay Rock’s highest charting album to date, debuting at number 13 on the US Billboard 200. Jay Rock completed The Big Redemption Tour at the end of October of this year. The Watts native will be performing a couple shows in the UK, come February of 2019.
Redemption is hands down my favorite hip-hop/rap record of 2018 and a lot of them have been released. Start to finish, all 13 tracks are strong tracks on their own as individual songs, but put in the order as they were, it equates to magic. I feel like the further we go as a human race, the general populace gravitate towards “singles” and the art of listening to an album start to finish is lost. For all you strong album listeners, this is an album to add to your daily rotation. The production, beats, vocals, and lyrics are A-1! I appreciate Jay Rock’s storytelling as a rapper and his creativity to intertwine heavy thought lyrics into a good hip hop beat. It’s a breath of fresh air as compared to all those useless and brainless “SoundCloud Rappers”, who seem to be rapping and speaking on the same nonsense. Jay Rock explores every facet that a great Rap/Hip Hop album should be, every song carries its specific purpose, to create a bigger overall picture.
I have many favorite lyrics on Redemption, but I will only leave you a couple, to help draw you into listening to the album. The first lyrics are from the intro song called The Bloodiest, The devil thought he had me, I was on back burners/ Moonwalkin’ fast, y’all respect my journey/ Evil tappin’ like the feds was watchin’/ No album, no dope, felt like I was all out of options/ I’d rather rob than get a job, don’t insult me/ Remember it was nicks and dimes in ’03. My second favorite lyric is, If you had a second chance in life, what would you do?/ Would you put down the pills? Put down the lean too?/ Treat your baby mama right and make way for your kids/ Make peace with your enemies, keep water under the bridge? taken from the title track.
Redemption feeds me everything I am hungry for in a hot rap record, everything from the story telling lyrics to the music. Jay Rock is having a white hot 2018 and I am sure 2019 will be even hotter. My favorite tracks on this album are The Bloodiest, WIN, OSOM ft. J. Cole, and For What It’s Worth. I give this record five out of five spins, a perfect score for a perfect Rap/Hip Hop record. Y’all go give this album a listen even if you don’t enjoy Hip Hop, give it a chance and let it redeem you.
FrankenCulture 