Jemani – It Is What It Is, Vol. 1: Segregation
Jemani
It Is What It Is, Vol. 1: Segregation
About
10 years ago a scary dude with dreads and freaky looking eyes walked up
to me in front of the National Guard Armory during BloodFest and handed
me an even more unusual looking CD. To say I was
intrigued would have been a major understatement but with my own event
set to happen the next day this “unique” disc found itself housed on
the front seat of my car for a few days. Once
all the smoke had cleared from the weekend I noticed the CD, now
sitting under a pile of flyers and mail, still intact on the
passenger’s seat. To be truthful it was my daughter Alexis, clearing the seat off to be able to go “cruising with Dad”, that spotted the CD. Alexis popped it into the player and we listened to some of the most out of this world lokal music to date. It was loud, it was rockin, it flowed, and most of all for a teenage girl stuck for the day with her Dad…it was fun.
The CD was Jemani’s Cyborg Jesus.
Out of these small memories come many as Jemani grew from a couple of friends with a common love of all styles of music. There
would be a couple more impactful CD’s, many lokal music awards, a deal
with Jagermeister not to mention a bunch of indy and major label bands
getting their asses handed to them trying to follow Jemani on stage.
Then things just sort of got very quiet.
In
2008 the rumblings of a new Jemani release began to surface and
occasionally I would bump into one of the guys and get similar “yeah
we’re workin’ on some pretty killer stuff” comments each time. Then time just passed again and things would get quiet. Then
came the announcement that a CD release show was scheduled at Sky City,
then new tracks on the band’s MySpace, then I got the call this past
week from drummer Jordan Leopard wanting to put a new disc in my hands. The very next day it was confirmed. In a McDonald’s parking lot Leopard, possibly the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, handed me a copy of It Is What It Is, Vol. 1: Segregation. The time had arrived.
Now
I gotta admit that initially I was a bit skeptical that this new
release would be able to live up to the bombast of the killer CDs that
Jemani had already unleashed on Augusta. The
whole metal and hip hop mix had pretty much died out even by the time
the guys hit the scene yet somehow with their own take on the blend
mixed with an explosive stage show Jemani had managed to escape the
clutches of the played out sub genre and become a monster band. But would they be able to do it again? As I peeled the cellophane off of the disc I wondered “would they even TRY to do it again?”
The answer to that question came in spurts as I listened to It Is What It Is, Vol. 1: Segregation. Right off the bat Jemani’s “rip hop” style jumps out but amazingly, in a fresh new way. Maybe it’s due to not being exposed to it heavily as of late. In my opinion it’s a lot more than that . While
it’s true that the return of Jemani has brought with it the rip hop
style of the band’s decade old past, this latest disc is way more than
simply a rehashing of the group’s patented style.
Starting off in familiar territory with intense opening track Whatever, Jemani continues the rip hip journey but with subtle differences over each of the first few tracks. A bit of soul here, some classic rock there, even a nice punky edge on Sick of It All. Not 2Day
is a great head-bobbing rock track with a great chant chorus but it’s
where Jemani head on track 10 and forward that truly mark this as a
very different Jemani.
Since the moment Augusta was first exposed to Jemani their rip hop sound has been duly noted time and time again. The guys like both sides of the fence and up to this point have preferred to keep it all nailed tightly together. Until now.
Starting with Concrete the
bands’ hip hop side takes over and proves that Jemani is not only
strong when all of their strengths are combined but that they are
capable of mastering one side of the fence OR the other. Front man Ike and guitarist Sonny Won swap smooth raps that stand up against any lokal hip hop artist. Stripped of distorted guitars and crunchy bass Jemani is somehow still as lethal as ever. What
makes Jemani hip hop stand out is the absence of the same old “girls,
rims, and benjamins” shtick that has oversaturated hip hop as of late.
Jemani’s rhymes flow with substance and meaning. Sure
you’ll get plenty to party and sing-a-long to and maybe that’s part of
Jemani’s mission-to make you get down and then wake up the next morning
and go “hmmm.” Uh Oh is full of classic Jemani audience participation catchiness while Deadneck flirts a bit with the edgy side. The Factory walks a bit on the funky side sliding at times into 70’s Shaft territory while Static shows Jemani’s soul side. But the biggest flip flop on this CD actually comes on the final track.
Complete with solid blues harp by multi-instrumentalist Scott Terry, Glitter Bone
takes a country blues shuffle and tosses in a bit of old-school
Aerosmith romp to create possibly the most adventurous Jemani track to
date. Unexpected? For sure. Fitting? For a band that has dabbled in many different musical genres and pulled it off each time I would expect no less.
Long-time fans of Jemani will be more than pleased to add this latest release to their rip hop catalog. At
the same time perhaps Jemani has not only stretched their arms out in
order to unleash some much needed expressive venting, but possibly
created a CD that will capture a whole new group of fans.
Don’t believe me? Get your ass out to Sky City this Saturday and hear for yourself. If that’s not enough to convince you go to the band’s MySpace at www.myspace.com/jemani and check out just a handful of the new tunes.