East London’s very own Hip Hop artist Jay Prince is back with another soulful tornado of a project. Following up from his recent LP “Beautiful Mercy”, Jay continues to bring his fans his uplifting and introspective take on hip hop.
Being the fourth project since his debut EP ‘Mellowvation’ Jay has had a long and life changing journey as he strives towards getting his music out there to the world. Having been co-signed by powerhouse record labels such as Soulection and recently supporting the superstar Chance the Rapper in his 02 Arena show in London, it doesn’t really come as a surprise that ‘Smile Good’ is all about happiness, love and good vibes.
The project kicks off with a Kanye/Chance ultralight beam of a track called ‘The Beginning’ to let the listener know that this LP has no negativity, and rather you should be joining him on this musical journey of happiness. This is the perfect introduction to the tape as it transitions into his highly impactful single ‘Father, father’ where he talks about his mental struggle with keeping positive and fighting off his inner demons – hence he’s calling out to God (his Father) to keep him sated. Being the only single on the project, this is most poignant and sets the tone for the whole experience. Hearing when it released (only two days before the project) I was greatly excited to know that Jay is continuing his journey for satisfaction in life rather than going into a sort of depression like other artists tend to fall into. Ultimately in terms of consistency Prince has always delivered in making feel good music.
While the tone is consistent throughout, it is important to understand the Jay hasn’t been slacking in terms of his musicality. While he continues to develop his nostalgic Hip hop style, he has also been in the studio experimenting with more contemporary styles of music as seen on his trap banger ‘Squad’. Featuring Michael Christmas and Danny Seth, ‘Squad’ is a bouncy rap song similar to what you’d hear from Young Thug or Skepta when he made ‘Numbers’ with Pharrell. At first I felt like this as too huge of a departure from Jay’s usual sound however I was soon swayed by the catchy hook and in-your-face lyrical flow that each artist delivered. It is here I feel that Jay is using his new platform as an artist to play around and show what he can do with his music.
This experiment soon comes to end when ‘All In’ one of the most pivotal songs on the project is queued to play next. A song about Jay Prince’s struggle in managing his love life with his dreams and aspirations, Jay goes into vivid detail about his time moving to California not being able to pay the bills nor care for his family as he would’ve liked. ‘All in’ is the turning point of the album where the listener learns that while Jay wants to keep motivated he has also had his share of strife. It is most clear here that Jay isn’t the happy-go-lucky entity that you may assume from some of his songs; Jay is a human trying to resolve his internal conflicts like every other growing human.
This message is concluded by the closing key note track ‘Smile Good’ where Jay Prince takes us back to his mellow roots as if to give us an intervention about positive thinking against unfortunate odds. The chorus being about taking pleasure in the fact that there’s something good in all things its home on why Jay writes the way he does. He sees the good in most things which allows him to stay happy and driven towards his life’s purpose.
‘Smile Good’ seems to be a milestone in Jay’s career. He is learning to express himself in new ways than he ever has before, and he seems to be more in touch with his goal and what he wants. He is definitely an artist to be following from here on!
Edited by: Jess Greaney
Sources:
http://www.lilymercer.co.uk/tag/jay-prince/
http://jay-prince.lnk.to/smile-good