Jay Electronica Unveils Fabled Debut Album A Written Testimony Featuring JAY-Z, Travi$ Scott, The-Dream & More (Roc Nation)

At this point in time, Jay Electronica and his long-rumored debut album have both become something of an enigma... although, with endless false start-ups and album "announcements," early this morning, 13 years after dropping Act I: Eternal Sunshine (the pledge) Jay Elect has finally dropped his debut album, A Written Testimony. Timothy Elpadaro Thedford or Elpadaro F. Electronica Allah, better known as Jay Electronica, first burst onto the Indie Hip-Hop scene in 2007 with "Act I." As its title suggests, Electronica primarily rhymes over the Jon Brion-scored soundtrack to Jim Carrey's award-winning film Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind and features soundbites throughout from Erykah Badu & Just Blaze. Since then, Jay Elect has, technically, only "officially" released a handful of tracks, including, "Exhibit A," "Exhibit C," "Letter to Falon," "Shiny Suit Theory," "A Prayer for Micheal Vick & T.I." and "Call of Duty: MW3" with Mobb Deep.

Now, I have "officially" in quotations here because only the first four tracks we mentioned are currently available on streaming services and over the years, so many Jay Electronica tracks have been released, it's hard to tell what was intended to be officially/unofficially released to the public. Jay Elect's limited discography, additionally, boasts features on tracks with Talib Kweli + Hi-Tek, Paul Wall, Common, Mac Miller, MF DOOM, Chance The Rapper, Curren$y, Big Sean & Kendrick Lamar, and The Game. There's a bunch of Jay Electronica tracks floating around The Internet, supposedly, produced by J Dilla, for a planned album called War with The Dragon prior to Dilla's untimely death. Romantically, Jay Electronica has been linked to both Erykah Badu, whom he has a daughter with, and British heiress Kate Rothschild. Jay ignited a brief feud with Eminem in 2018, which, somehow, involved Diddy & 2pac.

To any effect, as recently as February 7, 2020, Jay Electronica announced on his long-dormant Twitter (@JayElectronica) that his album was done, adding, "...my debut album featuring HOV man this is highway robbery." A continued stream of Tweets explained he recorded the album, soon dubbed A Written Testimony, alongside JAY-Z over a string of 40 days and 40 nights starting on December 26, 2019. It was stated A Written Testimony would be released exactly 40 days from the announcement of its sheer existence, making its wide release date fall on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. A series of live TIDAL-sponsored listening sessions to be held in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York last night, but due to the recent Coronavirus pandemic, those were cancelled. So, late last night, around 11pm EDT Jay Electronica livestreamed his album on his YouTube page; said track-by-track listening experience ended around 12:20am, at which point, A Written Testimony concurrently went live on all streaming platforms.

Across A Written Testimony's 10 tracks, Roc Nation label head JAY-Z makes exactly eight uncredited appearances, along with a very Kanye-sounding Travi$ Scott, The-Dream, James Blake, and Khruangbin. Jay Electronica produced the bulk of A Written Testimony himself, but we're treated to beats hand-crafted by Hit-Boy, The Alchemist, Swizz Beatz, No I.D. Young Guru, and AraabMuzik, as well. Stereogum staff writer James Rettig says A Written Testimony incorporates unnamed samples from Rihanna, Vashti Bunyan, Brian Eno, Allen Toussaint, and Robert Fripp throughout. Honestly, it's a bit hard to review or even gauge an album Rap Twitter has been anxiously awaiting for the past 10+ years. It's still a bit heard to get my head around the fact that A Written Testimony even exists in a tangible/listenable form! For both new and long-standing fans, A Written Testimony is definitely worth checking out! Additionally, I would strongly recommend listening to Just Blaze-produced non-album stand-outs "Exhibit A (Transformations,)" "Exhibit C," and "Act I: Eternal Sunshine (the pledge,)" as well. Jay Electronica's A Written Testimony is now available on streaming services, via Roc Nation.

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of

All-around Breakdown: Sean Martin Discusses Debut Instrumental EP Introducing The Magician As No More Magic (Residual Effects)

Sean Martin is a multi-versed musician, producer, and tattooer hailing from Connecticut. As a guitarist, song-writer, and/or producer he has worked with a variety of well-known artists including Hatebreed, Cold Cave, Wear Your Wounds, Umbra Vitae, Twitching Tongues, Cage, Kid Cudi, House of Blow, Head Automatica, XO Skeletons, Jet Fueled Horses, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and more. His versatility and flexibility within music allows him to blur the lines in-between the confines of Hardcore, Electronic, Metal, and Hip-Hop. Martin is, also, a skilled tattooer at Brass City Tattoo located in Oakville, Connecticut promoting the traditional approach to the craft. Founded by Martin himself between 2020-22, No More Magic combines ominous melodies with downtempo beats to create a dizzying dream-like atmosphere. Paying homage to the golden era of Hip-Hop while forging ahead down its own dark road. For fans of Portishead, Massive Attack, and DJ Shadow. No More Magic's Introducing The

The Witzard

Search This Blog