A Review of Jay Rock's "Redemption"

Initial Thoughts:
Looking to follow up his 2015 project "90059," TDE rapper Jay Rock looks to continue baring us to death on his new 2018 project "Redemption." So far, I had only heard two of the three singles Jay Rock had released and both were fire. I enjoyed Jay Rock's first single and feature song off of the soundtrack for "Black Panther," "King's Dead," which also had Future "ladidadida"ing on the song. The second single "Win" had Jay Rock showing off his bars while Kendrick Lamar showed off his underrated adlibbing. The third single I didn't hear yet but was called, "The Bloodiest." The song also serves as the first track on Jay Rock's album. Looking at the track list, Jay Rock has some enticing features. In order of their appearance on the album, Jay Rock features, Jeremiah, J.Cole, Future, Kendrick Lamar and SZA. All of these features have huge followings and are also artists I enjoy, this makes me more excited to listen to the album.

Review:

If you want hype, party music, this album isn't for you, this album is for when you want to sit down, listen to some bars. Jay Rock has stayed consistent as his "Redemption" album may just be better than his "90059" album. (In my opinion) "For What It's Worth" was the one song I could have done without; however, every other song had some replay value. I thought the version of "King's Dead" on the "Black Panther" soundtrack was better than this album's version of it. Overall, the beat choices, content, and lyricism Jay Rock put on display were consistently good which made the album sound like a gem. The Three Standout songs to me were "ES Tales," "Rotation 112th," and "Win."

Scorecard:

"The Bloodiest" +1.5
"For What It's worth" +.5
"Knock it off" +1
"ES Tales" +1.5
"Rotation 112th" +1.5
"Tap Out" (ft. Jeramiah) +1
"OSOM" (ft. J.Cole) +1
"King's Dead" (ft. Future) +1.5
"Troopers" +.5
"Broke+-" +1
"Wow Freestyle" (ft. Kendrick Lamar) +1.5
"Redemption"(ft. SZA) +1.5
"Win" +2

Raw Score: 7/13
Quality Score: 15.5/13