July 30
"Big Dada Night"
San Jorge Square
Cáceres
24:00
Juice Aleem, long-acknowledged as one of
the finest MCs the UK has ever produced, finally goes solo. The
sometime New Flesh and Gamma frontman who has also worked with Coldcut,
Hextstatic, Evil 9 and Adam Freedland amongst many, many others, has
decided that at last it’s time to go for self.
“Jerusalaam Come” is the result – thirteen tracks of varied beats and
broad musical influences held together by Juice’s unique lyrical style
and mental dexterity. Largely produced by Gamma/Shadowless legend
Blackitude, it’s an album which is both as raw and as sophisticated as
the minds who have made it.
First single “First Lesson” kicks things off, Juice showing rather than
telling, when it comes to the failings of many of the MCs on the scene.
“Straight Out Of BC” is an electro-dub tribute to the second city
featuring Moorish Delta’s Cipher Jewels. “The Fallen (Gen. 15.13)
continues the dub and roots feeling with a complex lyric drawing links
between Biblical proverbs and “The Fallen” of our own society. “Who Is
He?” – produced by Tomz and featuring him and Blackitude – is a Gamma
get-together, the lyrics skipping over the beat with complete control.
“Rock My Hologram,” produced by Si Begg, is a dubstep-flavoured number.
On “U4Mi” Juice addresses sex and relationships, using a sly humour
which is sometimes overlooked in discussions of an MC who can deliver
lyrics any way he likes. “KunteKinTeTarDiss” is an attack on rap music
and contemporary society more generally. “Higher Higher” is a straight
lyrics/battle tune, complete with tribal yells and a bell at the end of
each round. “You Shut The ____ Up” is a blistering put down to a
younger generation of rhymers who make up what they lack in skill with
pure front. “The Killer’s Tears” is a Wu-esque story-rhyme drawing on
Juice’s love of martial arts. “Church of Rock” finds Juice testifying,
not entirely seriously, to his own godhood. The album finishes with
“Sang Real,” an uplifting tribute to the internationalism in Juice’s
own bloodline and his worldview.
There’s no pretence with Juice Aleem – the working title of this album
“This Is Not For Everyone”. If you’re not interested in lyrical
intelligence, in hip hop, in MCs with something to say, in Blackitude’s
skank-funk, in ragged intellect, in ideas, in difference, in coming
correct, then you may as well give it a miss.
http://www.juicealeem.com
http://www.myspace.com/jerusalaam
