New York’s JproD: Not a Total Miss
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A Review of JproD’s Sonicbids Page
By Keith Szudarski
Atmospheric pads introduce vocal repetition, auto-tune and kick-snare-snare. Jeb Roadie enters, offers his story, whips out some clever lines, some clichés, and exits.
The track “We Here Now” sports a simple but euphoric beat backing the steady flow of JproD (Jeb Roadie/Jeopardy). I fancy myself a fan of underground, lo-fi hip hop and the artsy recycling of old jazz tracks, but New York’s JproD is the other end of the spectrum—I’m not a fan.
But let’s give credit where credit’s due: the quality of the beats and recordings and the quantity of lyrics are noteworthy. “Trill Shit, I Really Mean That,” a more somber song than the first, comes closer to sounding like (what I consider to be) “real” hip hop. Not a total miss. The beat wanes at the end, the vocals become subdued by what I take to be some form of sincerity, and the track wraps itself up.
“A Million Feelings”starts out like a euro dance song: more euphoria, pads, and layered vocal tracks. The music sounds original (i.e. not sampled), and that’s a plus. Still, this isn’t something I would listen to if it wasn’t assigned to me for review. The potential for depth is there; some hits and holds really show the triumphant underbelly of JproD and his story.
Unfortunately, in addition to being a strict rap/hip-hop separatist, I’m also a part-time lyric snob and wannabe wordsmith, so phrases such as “You niggas is vaginas shipped straight from China” and “She chopped my morning wood and she ain’t even have a hatchet” are pretty big turn offs for me (though I oughta admit that the latter made me chuckle).
(Keith also contributes to Seattle music blog Reaching Notoriety. #PromteThis is a regular feature wherein we review artists no one’s heard of yet.)