DJ Jewels is a 48-year-old DJ, producer and rapper from Detroit, Michigan, known for working with some of the Motor City’s most famous hip-hop acts, from D12 to his fellow Grindset compatriots Fatt, the father of the world-famous Fat Killahz and even Obie Trice. Twenty-five years ago, he released his debut album Another Conversation Peace, followed by Peep Game, Priceless & Take It or Leave It. My introduction to him came in the summer of 2010, when he made the posthumous Proof mixtape Time a Tell, recorded in the 24 hours before his murder, which featured some of my favorite solo material from the Mayor. “The Best is Yet to Come” is my favorite Jewels album, and I’m glad to hear that he followed up his 5 EPs with “The Movement”, “Who’z Dean Jones?”, “Fastlife Fame”, and “Aniel & Pick 6” The sixth LP after that.
Finale’s intro begins with a 96-second horn intro that points the way to their competing mainstream or underground sound, while Guilty Simpson’s “Document” proceeds in the form of an operatic sample, complete with kick drum and snare, talk about fools’ bets Their music won’t stop playing. Big Tone and Danish Vessey’s “No Hook” has a funkier vibe on the beat that doesn’t need a chorus to murder it, and after the “DJ Stripalude” interlude, DJ Truth’s “Is On Me” must be weaker One of the cuts was heavy on the auto-tune vocals and the trap instrumental was nice.
Big Herk and the late MC Breed’s “Drought Season 3” adopts the Bay Area-inspired style that the Detroit trap scene has been known for in recent memory, boasting their work before the Grindset-sampling “Grind Season” I’ve been experiencing this kind of thing. I Worried The Masquerade Is Over,” David Porter Talks About Never Letting Projects View Like They Should. Kashia Adams’ “Hey Mr. DJ” features a funky R&B instrumental as she If you want to dance to this song, get into “Gettin’ Off” by Dean Jones and Tae-O, and just run.
Interestingly, on “Ur Tha Won” we have DJ Jewels jumping over one of his beasts, MCing for over a minute and holding his own weight, keeping the trap sound of the previous joint going The energy turns romantic, while “Meet Mr. Wonderful,” starring Marv Won, finds the two talking about getting better every day in this jazzy soulful hybrid. Big Tone and Loe Louis’ “Still Lover” kicks off Undr Dawg’s other half with a fresh dedication to hip-hop culture, while the sequel “1st Love (Still Lover 2)” feels like another Jewels solo “Ur tha Won” On the contrary, it has an air of prosperity.
DJ Truth’s “Pretty Girl Anthem” happens to be a run-of-the-mill pop-rap/trap crossover song dedicated to all the pretty women in Detroit, just as Jill Govan’s “Thankful4U2” is just as catchy as another R&B song, “Hey” Before. Big Tone’s “Grow More” takes a more groovy approach, suggesting paying attention to your conscious mind and calling the haters vamonos, but “Cheat Code” is DJ Jewels’ third solo cut that throws in soul samples The 808s are in the folding repeat grind.
Grindset follows up the previous track perfectly, returning to a booming rhythm in “How Dat Sound?” Talk about knocking off people who don’t value their hard work, and “Heat tha Summer Up” happens to be the final Jewels solo cut, skipping over another Detroit trap beat similar to “Cheat Code” and “Ur tha Won” heading to the top First, there is no runner-up. Grindset and Oba Rowland’s “Go Mode 2” is a nice remix of the same song from Grindset’s self-titled debut album, while Alius Pnukkl’s “Live 4 Me” discusses taking time to get things done.
With the exception of Who’z Dean Jones, DJ Jewels has released almost every EP in the past 5 years. If you think about it, he was involved in house music even before Beyoncé and Drake put out “Renaissance” or “Honestly, Nevermind.” As for UNDR DAWG, I love it like the best is yet to come. His work here is probably his most versatile playing between boom bap, Detroit trap and R&B, with the exception of 4 solo tracks, leaving most of the performances to an array of established and up-and-coming local artists.
Score: 8/10
