Tag: MacArthur Maze

Jane Handcock – “It’s Not Me, It’s You” review

Oakland, California singer/songwriter Jane Handcock releasing a sophomore effort after teasing it with a few singles. A member of MacArthur Maze, she introduced herself in the beginning of 2016 off her debut EP Truth Be Told followed by Where’s Jane? as well as Where’s Jane 1.5 & Summer Type Flow. Making her way onto the radar of WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg through Fa Real, she joined Death Row Records for her debut album W.o.W. (World of Women) & is returning almost 2 years since Blvck Saturday with It’s Not Me, It’s You.

After the intro, the first song “Use Me” opens with a boom bap/neo soul crossover produced by Soopafly feeling like she has a genuine connection with this man instead of gold digging whereas “Sorry” swaps out the boom bap elements to throw a hint of rock in the picture apologizing for saying shit she didn’t mean. “Same Ol’ Love” colorfully sings about needing her lover from beginning to end while “You” featuring BJ the Chicago Kid gets together for a jazzy & soulful duet glad to be surrounding each other.

“For the Views” goes for a tenser direction in terms of sound singing about seeing truth & lies just before the funky “Stare at Me” featuring Anderson .Paak finds the pair taking it uptown & running it back downtown. “Stingy” smoothly asks for her lover to save all his love for her wanting him all to herself leading into “Can’t Let Go” after an interlude slickly add singing about being unable to get this man off her mind.

As for “Niraj”, we have Jane over some guitars from Charlie Bereal suggesting that this heartbreaker she knows plausibly needing love while “Smile” serves as a 90 second ode to happiness. “Good ta Me” puts her versatility on the forefront rapping & singing about her desires to give this man everything he wants over a Hit-Boy beat, but then “That’s All I Need” talks about only requiring love over a guitar & finger snaps. “Blowing Wind Around” closes the LP by favoring of rising in love rather than falling in it.

Jane uses It’s Not Me, It’s You as an opportunity to look at herself in all attributes to get the good, bad & ugly parts of her story out there in addition to strengthening Tha Row’s revived R&B division. Unlike the recent October London album October Nights basing itself around soul & contemporary R&B or Charlie Bereal’s debut for the label Walk with the Father throwing it back to the days of 70s smooth soul, MacArthur Maze’s biggest member diversifies from them shifting towards neo-soul mostly.

Score: 4/5

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MacArthur Maze – “Blvck Saturday” review

MacArthur Maze is a Bay Area-based hip-hop collective consisting of Blvck Achilles, Champ Green, D. Blesdoe, Ian Kelly, Jane Handcock, Roux Shankle & the Golden State Warriors’ disc jockey DJ D Sharp. The septuplet has been turning quite a few heads in the west coast underground scene over the years, most notably WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg signing Jane to a contract with the infamous Death Row Records as a solo artist now that the cousin of the shortest reigning IWGP女子王座, 6-time WWE women’s champion, NXT Women’s Champion & the inaugural record-tying 3-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Mercedes Moné has full ownership of the label. However, the crew’s ready to make their mark as a unit on their official debut album.

After the intro, the first song “First Friday” starts it all off with an orchestral boom bap instrumental pledging allegiance to the family prior to “Panther Bruce Lee” working in a lounger sound so the crew can display some strong back & forth mic chemistry for nearly 3 minutes. “San Pablo Dam” goes into a more delicate direction with the beat talking about the titular road out in Contra Costa county, but then “Ms. Mula” shifts into solemn trap territory to put an interesting spin on the concept of money.

The title track blends a vocal sample with kicks & snares discussing what they can still remember just before “No More” comes through with a dope gospel flip talking about not wanting to hear wack shit anymore. “Table for 5” gives off a jazzier flare instrumentally declaring to be on the highway leading into the dreamier “Switching Lanes” talking about having his rap shit down to the chemistry.

Lastly to begin the final leg of the album, the penultimate track “Dealin’ Art” cooks up an even smoother beat detailing the many blessings that the collective has been grateful enough to receive up to this point & “Thank You Have a Nice Day” rounds out MacArthur Maze’s debut album with everyone over horns talking about reaching a certain high to be known & proving all their doubters wrong.

I was already familiar with Jane because of her extensive collaborations with Snoop Dogg & being taken under his mentorship, so that undoubtedly played a part in my interest for this album peaking. The final result being a solid introduction as to who MacArthur Maze is. They honor those in Northern California who paved the way while also carving out their own niche in the scene.

Score: 4/5

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