Shaun Cronin celebrates the career to date of Jay Electronica, ahead of his two-night residency at the Jazz Café.
Not many rappers have produced the lead-off track on a Nas album, fathered a child with Soul diva Erykah Badu and had beats provided for them by two of the most acclaimed producers in hip-hop history (J Dilla and Just Blaze). It's all proof that Jay Electronica is far from your run of the mill rapper. Even though they're both from New Orleans, Electronica is lyrically far removed from the likes of Lil Wanye, and he's fast paving his own unique musical lane.
The combination of substance, creativity and imagination in his rhymes and a voice and flow that draws comparison with MF Doom and Nas has helped Jay Electronica rise above the waves of mediocre rappers flooding the airwaves.
His latest single 'Exhibit C' has generated a huge buzz, becoming No.1 on US iTunes thanks to some mesmerising, intricate wordplay over a sublimely bumping soulful beat courtesy of his mentor/producer Just Blaze. The instrumental has been rhymed over by a whole host of MCs, from The Wire actor Idris Elba to just about every underground rapper under the sun. But none have done it justice quite like Electronica did when he stepped into the recording booth.
Electronica first gained significant attention through the track 'Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)', made available on a MySpace page in 2007. The epic 15-minute drumless song was built from Jon Brion's soundtrack to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and was the start of a trend that has seen Electronica exclusively release his music through the internet. After taking part in the Rock the Bells international festival series and being the sole focus of Giles Peterson's Worldwide show in 2008, Electronica’s stock has steadily risen to the point where he can perform two nights at the London Jazz Café without a full-length release out.
The hype surrounding the enigmatic rapper/producer has reached fever pitch with critics and industry movers and shakers suggesting he is “the one” to bring real hip-hop back to the forefront of the genre. With the release of a multimedia project/E.P partially shot in Nepal and Dubai on the horizon, and hopefully an album to follow later in the year, Electronica will be looking to demonstrate to all the expectant hip-hop heads in attendance that he is indeed the real deal.
Jay Electronica is at the Jazz Cafe from 17-18th February 2010.
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