Extended Introduction to JRed – Before The Fame – Album Review

Absolute Zero | 8 years ago | No comments yet | Tags: Album Review, Banger, Before The Fame, Big Sean, Charity, Denzel Curry, Flint, Flint MIchigan, Hip Hop 4 Flint, Introduction, Jred, Live Performance, Miami, Mixtape, Music, Music Artist, Music Thoughts, Promotion, Props and Bonds, RapX Hip-Hop, Saturday Mic Live, Trap music

I first heard Jred at the Hip Hop 4 Flint Charity Event. This was a charity event to raise money for the people of Flint Michigan after their drinking water crisis. At the event I heard Jred perform a nice set. Jred performed a set full of trap flavored bangers. His performance was high energy. Jred danced his way across the stage while playing heavy beats. This all came together for a fun show.

Jred

I got a chance to listen too Jred‘s full length project “Before The Fame”. My initial impression of Jred is that he is a rapper who is most comfortable making slightly dark, trap influenced bangers. Jred talks a lot about drugs, a lot about his swagger, and a lot about his grind on this project.

Jred kind of reminds me of a mixture between Denzel Curry and Big Sean. I say that because when Jred is at his best in he is delivering a aggressive, dark sound of trap music. You might expect this out of an artist like Denzel Curry. Hard beats along with aggressive delivery makes for a good listen in most cases.

The Big Sean comparison speaks to the elements that I didn’t like about Jred’s music. I’m not a fan of Big Sean, mostly because he ends up being very generic and general with his lyrics. There are moments on this project where Jred is talking about his grind or drug use that I wish he got a little more personable.

This album opens up with the banger “Ohla”. This is a really boastful track, and I love it. We see Jred talking about how he is going to be self made, get his hustle on , and rise to the occasion. I really like the message of the song. The song is positive and progressive despite its dark tones. I feel like this was a great opener. This is definitely where Jred feels the most comfortable. Jred does bangers well and the track bumps. The rhymes were tight, this is a fun track. This is definitely one of the dopests tracks on the project.

One of my other favorite songs on this project is called “Motivation”. What makes this track stand out for me is that its a rap beat with an electric guitar on it. Honestly I hear electric guitars go so bad, so often on rap beats I really want to give this song praise. I feel like this is hard to do well in 2016. The song sounds natural and flows nicely. The lyrics are about motivating yourself too do better. I really like the subject matter, the positivity is definitely appreciated. Its hard to make good positive music that isn’t preachy or annoying.

“Top Rocks” is a track that comes in further into the album. The song is upbeat and gives the album a more jovial feel than some of the darker beats earlier on the project. The song touches on a lot of the same themes that I’ve been mentioning in this review. Jred is trying in this song to stay focused, get his money up, get his life together, work hard, and achieve his dreams. The dude is really about his business and he is going to let you know that fact.

“Test Beat” which comes a bit later in the listing too me is one of the most interesting tracts on the entire project. I feel like this song is Jred explaining what he really wants in life. He talks a lot about working hard on this album. Here I feel like we start to get that vision for why he is putting in this work. He is trying to get money and live life more easy.

The last track I want to talk about in this project is “Ced”. This track too me is the most personable track on the project. Jred opens up here and talks about his life. He talks about getting kicked out of college and his struggles to put his life back together. This really makes this track stand out in the track listing.

“Ced” highlights the things that I didn’t like about the album. Because of the lack of detail in the tracks in the middle of the track listing. The album gets a bit repetitive in the middle. Really when I look at the tracks they tend to boil down too staying on the grind. If Jred had cut five too seven tracks from the middle I think he would have a better project. Songs like “No Function”, “Go Crazy” , and “Money Mentality” were a bit unnecessary. There were other songs that I mentioned earlier in the review which went over the same ideas, but better.

Overall I really enjoyed the project. I think if the tracklist was a bit shorter I would have liked it a bit more. I would anyone who is interested in trap influenced music to check this out. The project was fun too listen too.