Review:

on 2007-03-03 sublogic Said:

I remember Just Jack’s first LP, The Outer Marker, coming when I was still working in music stores in 04. Although raw, I still thought it had more potential for widespread success in the states than The Streets, because he was easier to understand, with alot less of an accent, but the production was a bore. His sophomore album, Overtones, is all that I hoping for, and then some. I don’t know what changed. Jack and Jay Reynolds also produced the first album.

When you listen to Overtones it doesn’t sound like there’s a whole lot going on. On the first track, “Writer’s Block” he seems to be just hanging out, smoking weed. But it’s the story-telling style and production that keep the song, and the album, moving at the perfect pace. “Glory Days” is one of the happiest hip-hop tracks I’ve ever heard. I hated “Disco Friends” when I first listened to it but once I really checked the story, I found it very sweet, and the electronic hook is dope as hell. “Stars In Their Eyes” switches up 3 minutes in and Jack spits over an heavy hitting beat and then it changes right back into a hyped disco beat. I’m telling you, the change-ups, when they come, are ridiculous and the lyrics are as sharp and witty as a lot of your more popular MC’s out there. The middle of the album winds back into slower groove-based tracks. “Lost” is about a materialists lonely life and “Life Stories” is a shout out to everyone on the bottom rung. A couple of times, he goes the acoustic route like on “Hold On” and the excellent “Morning Mourning” in which he drops the line,

“Smoked the roach left in the ashtray, on which I choked the night before,

Stubbed my toe on dirty clothes, like mountain ranges on the floor.”

All in all a creative, entertaining, and eclectic second effort.
Rating: 8/10