December 11, 2020

Def Jam

1xLP

Has there been a stranger path to an album release than the one traversed by Jay Electronica in the long lead up to A Written Testimony (2020)? Most hip hop fans are acquainted with the story: from the infamous 2007 mixtape Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), the instant classic Exhibit C, the subsequent bidding war that saw him sign with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and the attached expectations, years of rumors and controversy… Finally, in February 2020, A Written Testimony is announced, the wait was over. When it finally dropped in March, most people were spending a significant amount of free time thinking about where to buy toilet paper, and a few days later it would have seemed unthinkable to spare a headline for an album release. In any other world, this album would have been received differently, and not hold a reputation as an almost cursed object. But, if we are to cast all that aside and consider the music alone, it stands as a very noble second project. How many other artists have withered and floundered under the pressure to follow up the hype? Functionally a duet album with Jay-Z, who steals more than a couple songs, A Written Testimony is confident in its sound and subject matter, and since its release has earned both praise and condemnation, guided as it is by Jay Electronica’s personal and philosophical ties to the Nation of Islam. The production is where the album excels, and it is clear Jay Electronica spent a lot of time listening to and sampling world and Arabic music as he was constructing the sound, leading to something identifiable and singular. Listeners are left with a lot to chew on, the album all at once very compelling, mythic, and controversial.