Whether its embracing nature and life on “Real Magic” or fighting the devil’s temptations on “Memories & Merlot”, nearly every bar will leave listeners with a different sense of wonder.
Aside from this, Electronica’s bars tend to revolve around spirituality and skepticism. While mentioning Jay-Z, his efforts on the otherwise stellar “Road to Perdition” are little to none as he repeats the same two phrases over and over again at random times during its nearly 4-minute length. Glorifying this is one of the two songs that features Jay-Z, “Shiny Suit Theory”, which despite feeling better placed here, it’s an exact copy of the cut we heard on the album’s predecessor. Instead, most of Jay’s writing issues come from listening to A Written Testimony as some of the ideas, rhyme schemes, and thinking pieces are recycled here. Referencing BlackBerrys and Tumblr undoubtedly shows the records age, but it hardly draws away from Jay Electronica’s breathtaking performance. Without Jay-Z on his shoulder, can Jay Electronica make a proper solo debut in Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn)? In March of this year, the 44-year-old rapper would be accompanied by the one and only Jay-Z in his return as they teamed up for his long-awaited major label release in A Written Testimony. This week, a leaked version of Electronica’s vaulted sequel to his classic 2007 EP, Act: 1 The Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), surfaced online and caused him to put out a definitive version exclusively on Tidal. As fans awaited his debut album, the New Orleans rapper slowly backed out of the limelight as he did everything in his power to avoid and delay the LP till nearly all hope was lost for it ever coming out. Sure it can sound dated at times, but the production on here is a lot better in comparison & Jay Electronica lyrically was at his best during this point in time.From 2007 to 2009, mixtapes such as Style Wars and Attack of the Clones caused many to think Jay Electronica was hip hops next savior. To be honest, I think this is his true debut album & I’ll even go as far to say that it’s better than A Written Testimony.
The closer “10,000 Lotus Petals” is just a wonderful orchestral piece with no Jay presence at all. The song “Night of the Roundtable” talks about feeling his hunger growing over some claps & keyboard embellishments while the penultimate track “Run & Hide” is a stunning R&B duet with The Bullitts that tells the story of a woman who escapes from her problems. The song “Welcome to Knightsbridge” flexes his rapping prowess over a hypnotic instrumental while the track “Rough Love” gets raunchy over a beat with some stunning choir vocals. The song “Letter of Falon” talks about climbing the highest mountain himself over some hi-hats & claps while the track “Road to Perdition” with JAY-Z sees the 2 making a number of references to the Tom Hanks film of the same name over a triumphant beat. The song “Memories & Merlot” reminisces on all the moments in his life that he cherishes over a settle, psychedelic beat while the track “Better in Tune” gets confessional over an angelic instrumental. The song “Bonnie & Clyde” shit-talks on those faking over a sample of the Serge Gainsbourg joint of the same name while the track “Dinner at Tiffany’s” is essentially “Shiny Suit Theory” off A Written Testimony. After the “Patents of Nobility” interlude, the track “Life on Mars” pays tribute to Erykah Badu over some synths. The opener “Real Magic” talks about accepting oneself over a bare piano instrumental while the next song “New Illuminati” talks about being just that over a churchy beat.
But after leaking online recently, Jay has decided to officially drop the OG version of the album. Fans had waited 13 years for him to drop a full-length album ever since his debut EP Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) & we finally got that in the form of A Written Testimony back in March of this year, which was a collab effort with JAY-Z. This is the surprise sophomore album from New Orleans emcee/producer Jay Electronica.
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