As with so much rap right now, the album only gives a partial picture of J. Stalin as an artist; This is his third official solo album, but there is an abundance of mixtapes (with original material), collaborative albums (like his Series The Real World with DJ Fresh) and guest verses that help paint an even more complete picture. To hear an artist establish himself as the author of hymns that make the chest vibrate, one must survive his beginnings; to hear him perfect them, you need his mixtape The Pre-Nup. It`s the same place where you`ll find it, ready to turn a new life into a familiar archetype. To see his leg charisma in action, you can check out his second album, Gas Nation. But track by track, Prenuptial Agreement is Stalin`s most completely made record, a complete and rarely disappointing album that captures an artist who doesn`t show up, but has arrived. His poignant story explains how seriously Stalin takes this issue, mainly because his position might otherwise be perceived as arrogance. As a rapper, J. Stalin doesn`t particularly care about puns, but prefers frankness; his verses are precise and clear. The main missteps of the prenuptial chord come from poorly designed hooks and beats (the unfortunate waste of an E-40 cameo, especially «Get Off Me»).
At best, which represents an impressive majority of 22 songs, Stalin is a noisy «neighborhood star» whose unrestrained exuberance captures the tragic heart of urban drug culture as effectively as he spits game on the girl he met in the block. He embodies a trait too rare in street rap: the ability to entertain without trivializing the sense of the tragic foundations that give power to his songs. The M.O. of J. Stalin is so effective because of a similar philosophy: he has no concessions to empty technical exercises or «declarations.» The album`s highlight is the dramatic tour de force «Red & Blue Lights», in which Stalin captures the strange paranoia of selling drugs without glorification («I sold it at home / Forgive my sins but I could never be a child») via a dark and atmospheric burning production reminiscent of Wendy Carlos` A Clockwork Orange Moogs. In addition to the impressive images of the hanger, the powerful resonance of «Lights» comes from Stalin`s personality; its unwavering stoicism in the face of long chances against the corner trader makes it a universally captivating drama. While street-oriented tracks like «D-Boy Blues 2010» are the most lyrically invigorating, it`s the Hollering-at-the-Ladies anthem «Don`t Front» — an up-tempo anthem whose crackling guitar lines add infectious electricity to the entire track — that jumps off the record the first time you hear it. Production on the LP comes from a group of skilled hands, including Mike Rimzo, the Mekanix (former Digital Underground Dotrix DJ and producer Tweed) and Traxamillion, all following a similar plan. These beats carry the weight of Hyphy`s high-resolution 808 bangers, coupled with a flawless musicality that has largely bypassed the subgenre. These expansive and expensive textures of mature and modern production are reminiscent of the brilliant and ambitious electro-R&B of the 1980s, the bourgeois sophistication of Jam & Lewis reused as a sound atmosphere for crack-soaked slum children.
This maneuver is only incidentally political, more obviously a fresh aesthetic movement, as it contrasts so sharply with the cold lo-fi bedroom production that defines much of the southern rap gangster. Jovan Smith was a child of the crack-plagued city of the 1980s and was born in 1983 in Oakland`s Cypress Village housing projects. His family has been deeply affected by Crack`s tragic presence, from the death of his older brother to his mother`s decades-long addiction to his own drug-related belief. These facts are not intended to push its «authenticity» or reduce it to the product of external influences. Stalin is above all an MC whose singing bleeds the well-deserved self-confidence of a man for whom insecurity is an obstacle to survival. Alive and exploding personality, J. Stalin is an informed and mischievous sage whose charisma oscillates between blatant arrogance and the ability to break the imaginative fetish of rap drugs and deliver a sobering reality. The aspiring rapper from Oakland has a real ability to entertain without trivializing the sense of the tragic foundations that give his songs their power. .