South Carolina got something to say about this rap game and Jae Bryant is leading the charge. On his latest album” Evil Lurks” Jaee Bryant pays homage to his many idols but he also questions many of their mindsets. The album matches exact vibe you expect, sinister undertone on this album will have you wondering what happened in his past.
This album is rap with a slap of soul too it which you can hear in the beats and his rhymes. On the first track which is the title track Jae Bryant starts off by paying homage to stars such as Kendrick Lamar, Bigge, 2Pac, and Boosie. He pays respect to Kendrick by saying” Good Kid, m.A.Ad city is the story to my life, raised up on the north side I gotta make it home tonight” while also letting us know he grew from the underground of hip-hop.
On his standout track “Reasonable Doubt” Jae Bryant raps about some of his personal issues ” Traveling this country many years still slept on, can’t stand it when your own kin turn bitter. Black fear is all I see in the sky, but I gotta keep it moving because I see the prize” This lets us know that Jae not only doubts the people around him but even strangers. He can’t pay much attention to them because the prize is all he’s worried about.
On the following track “$20” Jae talks about his past of being broke and growing up in a single parent home” I’m broke as hell, but im a king mom named me Jamelle, like a young nigga with no father his son turned into a prince” its sad that most of us can relate to this line so much. Jae also takes shots at the state of rap during his album ” Real lyrical rap coming back for you pop niggas, fuck around and get pop niggas” seems like he isn’t to keen on mumble and pop artist.
In all Jae makes things short in sweet on this album especially on the last track which is a letter to Kanye. He starts by sampling Kanye rant about him taking pills. Then Jae says what we all be thinking ” From College Dropout to the Late Registration, You’ve been my hero for decades im devastated, You disappoint me when you ran for Trump. You got the world looking at you like we been fucked, ” he says in a true rhythmic catharsis. It shows even thou we hold our idols to a higher standard there still human but we all can agree Kanye let us all down.
Overall “Evil Lurks” gives you that soul and jazz vibe but the beats and the way he rap’s it doesn’t sound overly outdated. This is good for Jae because he changed his sound on this album but he still got his message across. Coming from the underground Jae is starting to make a lot of noise especially with his pervious album “Bloo” getting a rare rave review from media outlet Mass Appeal. You can stream this project and his others on all streaming services, and watch out for Jae I think he might have something to say.