On My Jais - The Prelude is a 14 track precursor to Jai's upcoming album, too good to be called a mixtape though.
From South West London, Jai insists that it was her inquisitive nature and challenging childhood that brought about her passion for hip hop, as well as an evident love for a wide range of music.
"I grew up listening to anything from Tracy Chapman to The Pogues to Bob Marley, I loved it all!"
She began writing at a young age, moving on from poetry to rhymes, culminating in her participating in ciphers at the Deal Real record shop in London. The respect she gained from here led to her presenting her own show on Invincible Radio called 'The Sicka Selektion,' showing that her talents can stretch even further.
After an intro type track to start with, Stop, look Listen - sampling a version of the well known Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye track of the same name sees Jai on fine form - the flow is on point, lyrics are nice and it's a perfect way to introduce this young lady's obvious talent.
The only thing putting this in the mixtape category as opposed to it being an album - as it could easily be, in terms of content and quality. is that there are a few used beats here, most notably track 7 - "Brother From Another" which uses Jay-Z's "Soon You'll Understand" beat. As i said though, content wise - this could be an album track, the lyrics go deep such as -
"4 days in ICU, 4 angels surround you/ lost your fight and you rejected life - tell me why?"
Track number 4 - "Movin" shows Jai's versatility as she switches up the flow over a quicker beat - a good idea on Jai's part to put this track on the first half of the album and keep listener's guessing for what's to come.
Track 11 had me laughing - "Swagger Jacker skit" takin the piss out of Lil' Wayne which is always welcome on my speakers!
i'm looking forward to seeing what Jai does in the future - will be keeping my eyes and ears sharp for when the album drops but i was very, very impressed with 'The Prelude,' with such a lack of promising talent in hip hop at the moment, and new artists that are actually deserving of hype and attention - it's really refreshing to hear something to get excited about, and not to sound sexist but even more so when it's a female MC! Not only that, but she's reppin' U.K. What more do i need to say?
You can buy 'On My Jai's' from ITunes and i strongly suggest you do. At £8 it's more than worth it.
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