It’s a method that recalls one of rap’s great storytellers, Scarface, who Rock has actually grown to sound like at times. He takes meaningful pauses between wordy bars on “For What it’s Worth” and “Broke +-,” he favors down-home piano instrumentals- although he doesn’t delve quite as far into trauma as the Houston OG, he’s increasingly posing himself as a Wet Coast spiritual successor.Īccompanying this increased maturity are far fewer neck-snapping beats than we heard on 90059, which are instead replaced by some that are more muted and in tune with where the rest of rap is right now. Whether sharing his actual beliefs or adopting those he grew up around, Rock fully embodies a perspective from the inner city looking out, less celebrating his outlook than walking us through how he got there. Compare the former’s “FDT” to this section from the latter’s “ES Tales”:īlack lives matter, out here, no way Cops get promotions while the family gotta pray It’s fucked up, can’t explain, babies all in a dump truck It’s all about that money mane, miss me with that Trump stuff The widening difference between him and an artist like YG though, is that his experienced, measured tone can explain the realities of that environment to almost anyone. Like most rappers who came up banging red or blue in L.A., Rock still uses gang life to serve as the foundation of his music, letting it inform his code of ethics and interpersonal politics. Whether in the streets, in label boardrooms, or hospital bed, this man has seen some shit. He arrived at 90059 a much older soul than the tough-talking 26-year-old we heard on Follow Me Home, and following a near-fatal motorcycle crash, he sounds even more wizened on Redemption. This whole process has aged the Watts native, and he was already jaded thanks to his involvement in gang activity before he got his recording gig going. The mere fact that Redemption has shown up less than three years after its predecessor, and without any delays, should be viewed as well… a redemption of Rock’s rocky career arc. Following that experience of having an album ready years before the world heard it, he was clearly anxious to get a follow-up out, but that took another four years. Rock waited a full six years for his Top Dawg debut, Follow Me Home, to drop, during which even a 2008 single featuring Lil Wayne and will.i.am couldn’t help it get off the ground.
Few modern rappers have endured commercial holding patterns as brutal as Jay Rock did between the years of 20, the former the year he was signed and the latter the year he released his sophomore album.
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