YouTube Relics: Jay Electronica – Jazzmatazz (Guru Tribute)
When Guru died, that was a sad day for hip-hop. It hit me in a different way, as Gangstarr’s “Moment of Truth” is literally the song that caused a tectonic shift in my brain and made me obsessed with hip-hop. I had liked rap at the time, but after hearing that masterpiece, I started digging deep, as I had also discovered my favorite blog Hip Hop Isn’t Dead just after I heard “Moment of Truth”, which gave me a library of classics to discover. I guess Guru inspired Jay Electronica in a similar way, as he dropped Jazzmatazz right after Guru died.
This beat is the intro to Premo’s beloved Group Home album, which I think is slightly overrated, but whatever (the album not this beat). The beat itself is gorgeous, and doesn’t really sound like it’s meant to be rapped over, but Jay Elec changes my opinion instantly, as he flows over this beat like water. I can’t say I’m a fan of him as a person, but he’s an amazing rapper, which cannot be denied. This is one of my favorite tracks of his, but his discog is worth diving into. I remember when he came out with “Exhibit C” then “Exhibit A”, and I thought his raps were going to save the world. It turns out that music cannot save the world, sadly… but it can change your world, at least it did mine. Thank you to Guru and Premo for the song that got me into hip-hop, and thank you to Jay Elec for this killer tribute.
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The Author
I wrote this blog for a few reasons. One is because nobody in my circle of friends ever puts me on to music or things that are dope that I haven't heard about (step your game up friends!) as few people nerd out as hard as me on the dumb things I focus on. The other and main reason is because I am so tired of The NeedleDrop and Pitchfork, from the way Fantano talks about music, to the way that Pitchfork writes about it. Both cause me physical pain to read or watch, yet I for some reason occasionally check their review scores, because they are the only sites I know that do stay on top of music (to a degree), and they focus on genres that I'm not tapped into, so occasionally I find something good. Is it worth the pain? No. So let me save you the pain, by only sharing with you my favorites, and maybe you'll find a new favorite. Oh and I also love talking shit, so I'll do that too, but this blog is about showing love to great art.