With the release of 𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘜𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, Juicy J demonstrates a truly surprising level of creativity and vision. The project is, the author confesses, an "instrumental album with me singing and rapping on a couple of tracks, my true art and my emotions". True, because it is a genuine jazz album where the velvety sounds of sax, piano, guitar, and others make you forget the surrounding reality during the listening. Above all, the main instrument is the double bass of Endea Owens, a young jazz promise whose mentors include names like Ron Carter and Marcus Belgrave, in addition to having collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, Diana Ross, Jon Batiste, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. "I create a lot of conscious music", says J, "just like during my early days with Three 6 Mafia, I used to rap about conscious themes. I feel comfortable on this album; I listen to jazz almost daily, all day long". Among the tracks where rap takes center stage there is 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘱-𝘏𝘰𝘱 with Black Thought and Cory Henry, which highlights the vicious cycle that violence brings to lives and neighborhoods: “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯' 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 / 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘱, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 / 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯' 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 [...] 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯' 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 / 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬”. In the title track, the MC believes that projects like this can help heal this negative trend: “𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘱 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦 / 𝘔𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘋𝘳. 𝘚𝘦𝘣𝘪 / 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘮𝘦 / 𝘎𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘴”.

Mattia

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