Genre – Rap/Hip-Hop
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Known for dropping music at strictly his own timing, Jesse Jagz dropped a 5-track EP after being away from the music scene for three years. With the EP titled after his traditional name ‘Garba’, the theme of the 25-minute project was foreseen as him pouring out his heart and giving us the idea of what it means to see life through the lens of Jesse Garba Abaga – and that he did.
The last 5 years have been nothing less that topsy-turvy for Jagz. Between struggling to dish out music consistently, leaving the Chocolate City record label for the second time, starting up his own Record Label and battling Marijuana addiction. Jesse Jagz had a lot to prove.
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There are a lot of things that separate Jesse from his rap colleagues. Firstly, he does not derive motivation going mainstream. His music release timing, location, his reluctance to features, all of these things point to the fact that he just wants to make music that he enjoys irrespective of the reception it receives from the mainstream community.
Another thing that makes him stand out is his rap technique. Jesse Jagz has a flow that not a lot of Nigerian MCs can beat, his ability to fuse Melodic Hip-Hop with touches of Reggae is second to none – lets not also forget his dexterity when it comes to production and the rigors of sound engineering.
Lets get to it, Shall we? Garba is Jagz’ name and truly this project shows us things he holds dear and the matters arising currently in the space of mind. It is a 5-track project that embodies the rap culture, quality lyricism, Bars that portray its theme. While this body of work excels in its flow, Technique, and lyricism – it doesn’t do so well in its production, relativity, track arrangement and replay value.
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Track-by-track review of ‘Garba‘
Garba opens with a 7-minute track with it’s first 2 minutes being a Spoken Word dialogue from guest, Anchorman. Jesse Jagz takes over the rest of ‘G‘ by pouring out his heart through beautiful lyricism that tells the story of his journey down from Jos where he grew up. This is Musical art redefined. ‘A‘ is definitely the stand out track on this project, he gives off Kendrick-esque Vibes with his flows while he talks majorly about his hometown, Jos (J-town). This also possess arguably the best production on the project with a laid back slow-tempo Hip-Hop tune.
Jesse Jagz does the theme of the project harm as he takes a U-turn from the suspense praise of his home town, Jos, to an Afrobeat song with a Yoruba hook taken by featured singer, Mr Murphy on ‘R‘. The self-adulation song has a production that fuses traditional grooves with Afrobeats.
The lead single off the project ‘B‘ was pre-released before the EP. The so-so produced track reminisces his escapades with girls and how they always come back like a boomerang. Another Off-the-theme song. The last track ‘A‘ depicts that Jagz has still got the ability to execute hooks, Choruses and verses with his singing capabilities. He sings of women that have given up on love because of the cruel nature of life, telling them “Everything’s fine“.
CONCLUSION: For an Hip-Hop intellect as experienced as Jesse Jagz in the game, this is a project that has failed to live up to expectations and acres away from Jagz at his best.
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His Storytelling and Lyricism qualities are still at the top level, but basically everything else other than that is Mid – From the production to its replay value to its theme and construct. Disappointing and quite unacceptable for an MC who’s been away for 3 years.
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