5 On It: Ease Off It

5 On It: Ease Off It

Image via J'Demul
Image via J'Demul

Image via J’Demul

5 On It is a feature that looks at five of the best under-the-radar rap findings from the past two weeks, highlighting new or recently discovered artists, or interesting obscurities.


J’Demul – “University Street”

Image via J'Demul

Image via J’Demul

St. Louis rapper J’Demul’s music serves as documentary, a window into seldom seen parts of his hometown St. Louis. “University Street” and its stark accompanying video by director Louis Quatorze embody the notion of “existence as political statement” explored in my recent piece “Promise That You Will Sing About Me: The Artist’s Burden In Desperate Times.”

While rappers like Schoolboy Q and Vince Staples often approach observance with a sort of anger, boiling byproduct strain of daily life beset by uncertainty and violence, J’Demul approaches his street inspection with reserved weariness. He fills his raps with matter of fact detail that speaks to the particular pain of his experience: The need to be constantly on guard that can end up numbing the agitated. “University Street” feels like a lost song from the Clockers soundtrack, mournful but clear-eyed, taking stock of a broken world.

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Medhane – “1245”

Image via Medhane

Image via Medhane

Since first appearing in 5 On It nearly two years ago, New York rapper Medhane has continued to hone his greatest strength: The purposefulness with which he delivers every line. “1245,” his new release with frequent collaborator Slauson Malone, proves a further sharpening of the sword, a meandering set of verses over a sample of French group Cortex’s “Huit Octobre 1971” (which you might recognize from Madvillain’s “One Beer”).

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KingJet – “Do It (Aye)”

Image via KingJet

Image via KingJet

At this point, we’ve practically seen all the gimmicks: Hidden identities, surprise albums, “living” albums, a video of Frank Ocean sawing wood, Madison Square Garden fashion shows, Tidal giveaways, and a U2 album that just wouldn’t get the fuck off your iPhone. At this point, short of making fans travel to the bottom of the sea or to the moon to hear an album (although…that’s probably coming, regrettably), there’s very little in the way of musical rollouts that will seem truly novel.

As we’ve seen with 24hrs, purposeful mystery doesn’t have to be obnoxious or gimmicky; it can serve to simply focus the attention on good music. Such is the case with KingJet and debut song “Do It (Aye),” a clear product of smartly studying the modern rap landscape and putting a sunny, catchy twist on those lessons. It doesn’t really matter who KingJet is or isn’t as long as

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Jabbar – “luv don’t live here”

Image via Jabbar

Image via Jabbar

New Orleans rapper Jabbar is the sort of rapper that should attract people who complain about a lack of substance or care in current hip-hop like moths to a flame. There’s so much happening in rap at the moment—so much variety and so much quality, regardless of what naysayers shout into Twitter echo chambers—that it’s easy and expected to miss songs like “luv don’t live here.” With his slight drawl and tightly coiled rapping, Jabbar gives a pulse to the melancholy recounting of his troubled childhood and the strength it took to reach adulthood.

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Chen – “Gun”

Image via Chen

Image via Chen

Baton Rouge, Louisiana rapper Chen’s “Gun” feels like a product of a different time, with late-album-cut No Limit production and a complete dedication to a concept. Like Organized Konfusion’s “Stray Bullet” and Nas’s “Rewind,” Chen’s “Gun” personifies its titular weapon; Chen raps from the perspective of a gun, following a journey through different holders’ hands: a young man, a thief, a killer, a cop, a reseller. “Gun” is a rare narrative turn in modern rap and a keen one, dramatizing the passage of an illegal weapon from one person to another as it tears a path of death through different lives. Taking a page from classic gangsta rap, Chen fills “Gun” with the moral weight and consequences of every trigger pull and each body added to the count.

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