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Jay Electronica – “Exhibit C” [mp3]
If you’re wondering why we haven’t heard much from Just Blaze lately, it’s partly because Jay Electronica kidnapped him and locked him up in the studio to work on his debut album. If “Exhibit C” is any indication of what’s to come, Jay should go ahead and put a bigger lock on Fort Knox Studios. I don’t know how much of this will translate onto his full-length, but Jay is on a tear right now.
“Exhibit C” embodies everything people admire about Jay Electronica — a combo of compelling confessionals and convincing boasts, delivered in a charismatic manner. Using his life experience as a thread, Jay weaves a needle between southern rap’s thorny past and glorious future in one sharp swoop: “When New York niggas was calling southern rappers lame/But then jackin’ our slang/I used to get dizzy spells, hear a little ring/The voice of a angel telling me my name/Telling me that one day i’mma be a great man.” That he’s doing on a track with one of the most sought after producers in the East Coast is symbolic of Jay’s talent and broad appeal. I’ll even forgive him for swiping MF Doom’s lyrics in the next line (“Eating wack rappers alive shittin’ out chains”), because if anyone can eat a wack rapper and shit out his chains, it’s Jay Electronica. I mean, Jay ElecHannukah.
Jay’s imagery is impressive. But it’s only one part of the equation. The other part comes from Just Blaze’s musically rich soundboard. A dense soundscape of shimmering piano licks over a classic break beat and thumping bass is the recipe for an instant banger.
In fact, I’m now convinced that Just has musical notes where his fingers are supposed to be. How else do you explain his streak of consistency for damn near a decade? Among the producers that rose to prominence in the early 2000s, only Kanye West and The Neptunes can boast of a better track record. But that’s because those guys churned out beats at an alarming rate while Just was busy playing video games. Who knows, maybe the gruesome label politics surrounding the Saigon experiment left him sapped. For whatever reason, Just seems to have found his rhythm again. I don’t know how much Jay Electronica had to do with that but the two seem to complement each other perfectly.
Hip-hop demands an extended alliance from this duo.
Jay Electronica – “Exhibit C” Lyrics
When I was sleeping on the train
Sleeping on Meserole Ave out in the rain
Without even a single slice of pizza to my name
Too proud to beg for change mastering the pain
When New York niggas was calling southern rappers lame
But then jackin’ our slang
I used to get dizzy spells, hear a little ring
The voice of a angel telling me my name
Telling me that one day i’mma be a great man
Transforming with the Megatron Don spittin’ out flames
Eating wack rappers alive shittin’ out chains
I ain’t believe it then, nigga I was homeless
Fightin’, shootin’ dice, smoking weed on the corners
Tryin’ to find the meaning of life in a Corona
Till the 5%ers rolled up on a nigga and informed him
“You either build or destroy, where you come from?”
“The Magnolia projects in the 3rd ward slum”
“Hmm, its quite amazing that you rhyme how you do
And how you shine like you grew up in a shrine in Peru.”
Question 14, Muslim Lesson 2: Dip diver, civilize a 85er
I make the devil hit his knees and say the our father
Abracadabra! You rockin with the true and living
Shout out to Lights Out, Joseph I, Chewy Bivens,
Shout out to Baltimore, Baton Rouge, my crew in Richmond
While y’all debated who the truth was like Jews and Christians
I was in Cecil B, Broad St, Master, North Philly, South Philly, 23rd, Tasker
6 Mile, 7 Mile, Hartwell, Gratiot
Where niggas really would pack a Uhaul truck up
Put the high beams on
Drive up on the curb at a BBQ and hop out the back like “whats up”
“Kill a nigga, rob a nigga, take a nigga, buss up”
Thats why when you talk that tough talk I never feel ya
You sound real good and you play the part well
But the energy you giving off is so unfamiliar
I don’t feel ya.
Nas hit me up on the phone said “what you waitin’ on”
Tip hit me up on a tweet said “what you waitin’ on”
Diddy send a text every hour on the dot sayin’ “When you gon’ drop that verse nigga you takin’ long?”
So now I’m back spittin that He could pass a polygraph
That Rev Run rockin Addidas out on Hollis Ave
That FOI, Marcus Garvey, Nikki Tesla
I shock you like a eel, Electric Feel Jay Electra.
They call me Jay Electronica
Fuck that, call me Jay ElecHannukah
Jay ElecYarmulke
Jay ElectRamadaan
Muhammad Asalaamica Rasoul Allah Supana Watallah through your monitor
My uzi still weigh a ton, check the barometer
I’m hotter then the mothafuckin sun, check the thermometer
I’m bringing ancient mathematics back to modern man
My momma told me “never throw a stone and hide your hand”
I got a lot of family, you got a lot of fans
Thats why the people got my back like the Verizon man
I play the back and fade to black and then devise a plan
Out in London, smoking, vibin while I ride the tram
Givin’ out that raw food to lions disguised as lambs,
And, by the time they get they seats hot,
And deploy all they henchmen to come at me from the treetops,
I’m chillin out at Tweetstock,
Building by the millions,
My light is brilliant.
