Trenton, New Jersey emcee, singer, producer & music video director Jerry celebrating Valentine’s Day by releasing his 2nd full-length studio LP. You may know him for coming up as 1/2 of the duo MellowHype alongside Left Brain in the mid/late 2000s under the original moniker Hodgy Beats & later simply Hodgy prior to helping I Smell Panties, Casey Veggies & The Jet Age of Tomorrow form the impactful albeit now defunct alternative hip hop collective Odd Future. He was also the first person in the Wolf Gang to put out a solo effort, dropping his debut mixtape The Dena Tape only 9 months after the crew put out their 1st tape as a unit The Odd Future Tape. would go on to expand his solo discography with 2 more mixtapes & 3 EPs prior to his full-length debut Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide a day before my 20th birthday which to this day, I still think it’s possibly the most criminally overlooked offering that we’ve gotten since OF’s disbandment due to how much growth was shown on that album. Entitled was a solid comeback EP a couple years ago experimenting with contemporary R&B on top of a predominant west coast trap sound, but Higashi Miyagi reinventing himself once again going by Jerry & is looking to make lovemesooner a broader reintroduction.
“the letter I wanted to write” is a head-on acoustic opener produced by Benja finding Jerry singing about finding time whereas “i’ll say it here” tackles the idea of empty vices & asking if you want to sip cough syrup on top of both Chester Hansen & Leland Whitty of the production trio BADBADNOTGOOD help Benja maintain a stripped-back sound. “an obsessed woman” sings about a woman who’s tired of his games over more acoustics leading into “i became her” confessing that he lost a best friend & isolation blending these melodic background vocals with elements of folk music.
Meanwhile, “to you” has a bit of this acoustic R&B/pop rap tone directing it towards someone who picked their poison destroying what they had together & even their own heart just before the boom bap-inflicted “when you willingly” tell the flight attendant to come with him inside his head cautioning it’s in fact a scary place. “showed your hand” continues to strip things back sonically once more reflecting on a story he had read with no solution in the midst of driving around Hollywood that is until the downtuned “i placed my brain inside it” sings about being all over the place.
“kept my heart for myself” makes it known that he’d rather have her look him in the eyes & kill him slowly or tell him that they simply weren’t meant to be together while the folky “you chose to leave” is an open letter to London asking how they’re doing. “facing the worst fears” instrumentally continues to expand on the folk music influences melodically confessing to having suicidal thoughts while the acoustic “known to man” sings about being the star near the sun you worship.
I love the passionate vocals on “care is given to show” about remaining undefeated & tomorrow being a day repeated although the production remains stripped-back while “us how fucked we are” brings some woodwinds into the fold sings that distance makes the heart getting on some bitter ex-boyfriend shit. “time is measured” tells y’all to save the fuckin’ drama for yourself over a piano-driven boom bap until “to tell us 2” returns to the acoustic ballad callin’ out someone who went behind his back.
The penultimate song “move along” begins the encore of the LP by singing over acoustics yet again that you can take everything from him but his dreams & finally to round out Jerry’s sophomore full-length body of work, the title track hooks this jangly guitar & melodic vocal performances about fighting like a Jedi along with trophies/awards weighing less on his mind with all his might.
I respect that Jerry stepped out of his comfort song on Entitled by showing off his singing voice more & even making a predominant showcasing of it on this new album over here but as someone who’s been following him since the OF days, it’s just ok. Some of the acoustic cuts can feel a bit samey at times & he still shows his hip hop roots although in a diminished capacity, it’s that some of his sung vocals can sound eerily reminiscent to that of alternative R&B pioneer & fellow Odd Future member Frank Ocean.
Score: 3/5
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