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| Jin - The Rest Is History CD [Virgin] |
The LP kicks off with a spoken skit depicting his signing of his Ruff Ryders contract which soon turns sour as he is enlisted to do some training before he gets to live the lifestyle. The first track Here Now is head nodding bumper with a simple piano and a hard beat produced by True Headz. Jin comes over clear and makes sure that his diction is clear as he sets about introducing himself to the world. Get Your Hands Off is a noisy rapid stab based track from Swizz Beats which features a sample from the Mandrill's Children Of The Sun and is raucous in the extreme. Jin says this is as hard as it gets and progresses to say it doesn't matter if his back is against the wall as he always has a way out. He continues that whilst other rappers have records to make he has records to break! Definitely an MC that prides himself on wordplay many lines have multiple meanings and references that link on to future references as well. Club Song is just that, a rather generic sounding bounce beat from Just Blaze. Throughout Jin explains that this is his club song and that he made it because he had to do a club song. This is disappointing as it displays that Jin is painting by numbers and fulfilling stereotypes and playing out formulas. Regardless, it'll still get play. Bad Boy's Bink produces Come Thru which comes off better than the previous track and also features Twista who as usual swills some verbs round his moth and comes out with some incredible flows. This is again a club track with a rolling bass and a brain twisting electronic bleeps. Gerald Florio and Rupert Holmes' Give Up Your Guns gets flipped by Neo Da Matrix for Senorita, a summery love song with a Latino feel to the beat which is added to by musicians Ken Lewis who drops the additional acoustic guitar and strings. When the production is doped up such as on Love Story which features AJA Smith on the Soulful chorus Jin can really come over with some classic flows. The loop for this from the Isley Brothers' Groove With You is hooked up by Mr Devine and is real classic stuff. The following Cold Outside which features Lyfe on the RnB singing tip is for me a bit slushy and is like a poor Barry White rendition. The strings and cheesy lyrics make for a track which is skippable. C'mon however is altogether stronger as Jin fills the now familiar Eminen rap pattern and shows that he has the flows and hardcore lyrics to match any wordsmith. For Karaoke Night Jin enlists the help of Styles P who backs up on the vocals and displays with his easygoing style the reasons why such a hot MC as Jin would choose to work with him. Primarily drums driven this is predominantly a description of what can occur at open mic nights. The penultimate track Same Cry gets L.T. on board and with Bernard Grobman's guitar is very downbeat and melancholic. It is one of those songs where the performers would sit on stools on Top Of The Pops and sway backwards and forwards as they overdo the emotion. The story telling is deep whilst describing the struggles of life, but it all just seemed a touch too flimsy. The LP is rounded off with the six and a half minutes of Thank You another slow tempo end of the night track. Again Mr Devine drops a tasty beat with a great old skool stab, smooth keyboard bass and some sparkly percussion. Jin sets about giving props to a mammoth list of people that have either influenced him or done something special to further Hip Hop. The song is thanks to everyone that has helped keep Jin motivated to succeed. All told then I was a lot more impressed with this than I though I would have been. But across the whole set it feels a bit hit and miss with a few too many tracks which weren't fully connecting with me. No doubt Jin has skills and lyrics and is poised for greater stardom than he has seen so far and with his ability to appeal to several audiences should have the backing to make it big time. Related Links:
http://www.jinsite.com
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http://www.ruffryders.com ::
http://www.virginrecords.com |
![Jin - The Rest Is History CD [Virgin]](../images/jin-the_rest_is_history.jpg)
| Intro |
Early Doors: 1979-1985 |
False Dawn: 1985-1990 |
Underground Years: 1990-1995 |
The Renaissance: 1995- 2000 |
The Future: 2000 & Beyond |
Artists & Discographies |
