If you were to try and name the most anticipated hip-hop record you could think of, one with the most mythology or secrecy surrounding it, what records would come to mind? Some may be quick to talk about Kanye West’s rocky release of 2016’s The Life of Pablo, or maybe his 2018 opus YANDHI. Others may mention Dr. Dre’s record Detox, where after years of changes it was inevitably scrapped for his 2015 release Compton. Most would likely regale you with tales of waiting for Lil Wayne’s The Carter V, an album that was withheld by labels and rap figures, and even at one point owned by big pharma mogul Martin Shkreli before eventually hitting streaming platforms in 2018. What most of these records have in common - save for a select few - is that they were eventually released. For about a decade, fans awaited the release of Louisiana rapper Jay Electronica’s debut album, only to be met with year after year of frustrating silence. This all changed earlier this month, where previously solemn and reluctant acceptance turned into overjoyed optimism and fulfillment when Jay Electronica finally released A Written Testimony, his official debut album.

While A Written Testimony has not been in production since 2008 like one might expect, it was actually recorded over a 40 day and 40 night interval. The religious symbolism does not end there, as on the record itself Jay weaves religious references from Islam to Christianity into his writing in order to address topics of life, death, white supremacy, and the relationship between celebrity and public. When you have a background as illustrated as Jay Electronica, it seems only natural that your debut album serves more as an induction into the hip-hop stratosphere. Therefore, it is fitting that Jay Electronica is not alone on many of these tracks, accompanied by the legendary Jay-Z as they trade bars effortlessly over masterful mixes and prodigal production.

The album begins with “The Overwhelming Event”, a track featuring Louis Farrakhan delivering a passionate speech over tragically beautiful strings. As his words of racial uplift and deliverance fade into the instrumental, pounding kicks begin to lay the foundation on which Jay and Jay begin the record. “The Ghost of Soulja Slim” immediately constructs a few different narratives that serve as lenses through which this record was created. Jay-Z naturally recounts his experience with gang activity, with bars like “From the era of police stretcher, no cameras catch it / Drop you off in a rival hood, you rather be arrested” and “[Soul music is] the blood that goes through me, so you assuming / I could never sell my soul, they sold they soul to me”. Faced with oppression from all sides, Jay-Z establishes an emotional register of this album that is painful and celebratory at the same time. It is from his struggle that he became the icon he is today, a simultaneously dejected and inspiring sentiment. Jay Electronica then comes in and delivers a verse equally invested in spiritual Arabic and poetic verse. He raps "Verily, verily, I tread through life merrily / Giving all thanks to God for this universal therapy” as the track comes to a close. It is the type of beautiful and cinematic moment that occurs so infrequently in life, and somehow the two manage to prevent instances like these from being so few and bar-between by bringing their best consistently on A Written Testimony.

Every track on the record stands out both sonically and thematically. On the following track, “The Blinding”, which features a brief three-line hook from Travis Scott, the song is divided into two halves. The first is a bass and vocal-sample dominated soundscape over which Electronica and Jay-Z embellish on their status, using Jay-Z’s son Sir as a metaphor for the nobility that they both carry. The latter half is features bass but in a much less abrasive and more low-frequency kind of way. Piano keys decorate the minimal instrumental while Electronica reflects on the time spent not releasing music. He masterfully writes “Extra, extra, it's Mr. Headlines / Who signed every contract and missed the deadlines / 40 days, 40 nights, tryna live up to the hype / It's the road less traveled, it's the one who missed the flights / Hov hit me up like, "What, you scared of heights? / Know your sister tired of workin', gotta do her something nice" / When I look inside the mirror all I see is flaws / When I look inside the mirror all I see is Mars / In the wee hours of night, tryna squeeze out bars /Bismillah, just so y'all could pick me apart?”. This meditation on self-doubt and fame partly stands in opposition to the confident first half of the track. In pairing such a vulnerable verse alongside one so braggadocious, the mythology of Electronica is partly dismantled, but in a way it is also further enforced. His status and almost divine providence is a result of struggle, as his 30 seconds of rapping on this track reflects over a decade of unreleased writing. For someone who spent 12 years perpetually about to release one album, Electronica seems to be very carefully arranging his words here. It ends up working in his favor, however, as each intentional verse is delivered with a candor equally casual and confident.

There are too many high points on A Written Testimony to count. In one moment, a track featuring R&B mainstay The-Dream is constructed against a wall of classic instrumentals arranged by producer The Alchemist and Electronica himself. In the next moment, a victorious and spacious track features Jay and Jay celebrating their shared successes while James Blake and Travis Scott sing in the background, uncredited (which may itself be a testament to their success, and perhaps the biggest bragging point of this record). Even the song “Shiny Suit Theory”, the one track that predates the entire album by several years, feels fresh as if it has finally found a home in this ten track composition. Jay Electronica was not kidding about his versatility and power when he rapped "I was born to lock horns with the Devil at the brink of the hereafter / Me, the socket, the plug, and universal adapter” on “The Neverending Story”. He and Jay-Z manage to exceed all expectations and nail every performance from the intense and rattling behemoth “Flux Capacitor”, to the laid back and tropical “Fruits of the Spirit” that immediately follows it.

A Written Testimony comes to its untimely ending with the two tracks “Ezekiel’s Wheel” and “A.P.I.D.T.A”. The former features a beautifully dreamlike mix of off-kilter vintage synths and clicking percussion. Before The-Dream begins singing his chorus, Electronica raps “ ‘’Some ask me ‘Jay, man, why come for so many years you been exempt?’ / Cause familiarity don't breed gratitude, just contempt / And the price of sanity is too damn high, just like the rent /…/ Sometimes I was held down by the gravity of my pen / Sometimes I was held down by the gravity of my sin / Sometimes, like Santiago, at crucial points of my novel / My only logical option was to transform into the wind”. His lyrics reflect a comfortable confidence that is surrounded in anxiety, in the knowledge of how artists can be manipulated into tools for record labels to exploit or into products for the masses to consume. Electronica’s absence is explained as an easily understandable moral issue, where he grapples with furthering his career and craft and the potential expense of his soul. James Fauntleroy, another industry heavyweight, appears on the track to lend some guest vocals before the next track begins.

“A.P.I.D.T.A”, or “All Praise Is Due To Allah” features some light percussion over a beautiful Khruangbin guitar arrangement. The track deals with death and the misery that can be accompanied when a person leaves but so much of them is left behind. Jay-Z softly raps about about screenshooting numbers and phone numbers, fragments of a relationship that he doesn’t want to lose. Jay Electronica raps "My eyelids is like levees but my tear ducts is like glaciers / As I contemplate creation, the salt that heals my wounds pour out my eyes just like libations / I can't stop my mind from racing, I got numbers on my phone / Pictures on my phone / The day my mama died, I scrolled her texts all day long/ The physical returns but the connection still stay strong”. I broke down listening to this track because I’ve lost people close to me and done the exact same thing. I remember the day a close friend of mine died a few years ago, I stayed in bed and scrolled through our old conversations the whole day. It was so easy to feel alone in that moment but tracks like these help me continue to realize that the rememory of a loved one can impact you long after the person leaves your life. The instrumental is beautiful, tragic, and almost magical in a sense. Without using words, it reflects the feeling of walking outside into the sunshine after a rainstorm. There is a silent somberness in the air as the track comes to a close, ending an album that many have been waiting for since 2008. Every theme on the record had a thematically tragic component to it, and this track somehow indulged the sadness into a moment at peace with its own tormented narrative. An incredible moment of closure both to this album’s narrative and A Written Testimony itself.

Is it possible to say a record like this was worth the wait? Can an album really make 12 years of waiting worth it? Surely there has to be something to critique about it, right? Well sure, some may be disappointed with how frequently Jay-Z appears at a time that should be devoted to Jay-Electronica, but I think that Jay-Z’s presence works well as a voice that helps integrate this relatively rare voice into hip-hop’s mainstream. In addition to this some have criticized Electronica’s use of Islamic themes as vapid. While I agree that neither Jay nor Jay are lyrically reinventing the wheel, Electronica’s use of Arabic does at a spiritual sense to many of his poetic introspections. In short: the record is phenomenal. Electronica’s writing and production was artfully done, and all the guests (from AraabMuzik to Swizz Beatz to James Blake etc.) lended to Electronica’s special moment. Jay-Z’s raps can come off as overly cocky and exhaustive sometimes but he managed to deliver his bet on this record, aiding his friend flourish in the process. I will definitely be keeping this record in my daily rotation for the upcoming future, or at least until Electronica decides to drop a new project 12 years from now.

Favorite Tracks

The Blinding (Ft. Travis Scott)

Fruits of the Spirit

A.P.I.D.T.A

Rating: 10

Listen to A Written Testimony here:

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