J-High’s Response-Ability
Sunday, January 30th, 2005I received my CDs from Myriad Studios. The first one I have listened to is J-High’s Response-Ability. Since I am always pimping Rev1 and his cohorts to y’all, I feel a certain response-ability to give you a review of this CD.
Overall, I like it. J-High has a good strong voice and good flow. His kung fu is strong. The beats are solid, strong and make you bounce your head.
I’m going to start with what I didn’t like, mainly because there wasn’t much and I want to end this post with positives. The Intro, Inter-lewd, and 2 Random A**holes tracks are a waste of time. The first two of those aren’t songs, just J-High cussing at guys in the studio and playing around. I have heard bits like these on a number of albums in my life, but usually they have some point or at least set the mood of the album. These don’t do either and it makes you wonder why he bothered leaving them on there. The third track is a song (he spells it with the s’s, I just try not to put cuss words on the blog), but not a very good one. It really doesn’t fit with the rest of the album much. I’m not sure if he was just trying to lighten the mood a bit or what. If he was just going for a less politically or emotionally charged track, he could have done much better. I’m not going to bust his chops too much over this though. One goofy song is just that, one goofy song. The other 10 tracks on this album are outstanding.
My favorite tracks so far are Why Believe, We Walk From Here and Needs And Wants. These tracks speak of thoughts and convictions that we all struggle with. Needs And Wants might very well be one of the most profound and mature tracks of Hip-Hop I have ever heard. He reminds me of why I became entranced with Hip-Hop in the first place. He also shows what it can be when you aren’t spending your time rapping about how much money you make rapping about how much money you make.
The kid has talent, no doubt. J-High does what Nas wanted to do before he sold his soul for some rims and a red leather outfit. I recommended this album just from listening to a few tracks on the ‘Net. I’ve heard the whole thing now. I guarantee you want it. Go get it.
My next review will be of the Real-Eyes album, Scholars Of Tomorrow.

