MUSIC REVIEW: Joell Ortiz : Autograph

It has been a long day since “Monday”, a Monday that has stretched out to the span of a couple of years. Whether the length between albums was masterfully crafted to be stagnated in the vein of what a stereotypical Monday could be, time has only further refined Ortiz’ pen, and Joell is back yet again to display that pen game built on the strength of direct and loose autobiographical narratives through his latest LP, “Autograph”.

Public housing tales riddle the LP, along with an unattached reverence for nostalgia but far from a longing, as Mr. Ortiz modestly announces the material goods in life that he has to be grateful for while boasting about the relationships that he has acquired over the years starting from track one “In My Feelings” where Ortiz gives listeners a recap of the alliances he forged in his career from having his autograph on contracts given to him by Dr. Dre and Eminem , to dropping freestyles on Stretch & Bobbito to Hot 97 – return listeners and those new to the skills Joell has to offer need only come here to be enticed to go back and listen to Joell’s rich catalogue.

Not to be mistaken that this present piece is not as decadent, “Autograph’s” audio quality stands shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the emcee’s discography. With Heatmakerz mixing on the boards (especially after last years “El Capo”, dude just cant lose) and a reunification between Box Talk with Remi blessing the LP with a few choice cuts, yes Ortiz slays it on the mic, but the DJ’s featured on “Autobiography” provide a nice open battlefield for Ortiz to show out as a master of blood sport within the culture.

For example, the sample flips on both “One Day” and “Going Through It” are enough to make any Hip-Hop purist crack a smile, and the lyrical content from the wordsmith Joell is evened out as he trades bars about loyalty with 1/3 of The Lox on album highlight “Love Is Love” (the street anthem , if record companies still found those types of records profitable ), to creating the obligatory romantic gesture within “Lifeline” , corny bars and all, Joell still finds himself to confidently be worth his weight in versatility. The emcee is far from untested in the realm of battle bars so to hear him tell tales observing the effects of social media on the populace (“Going Through It”) or just strictly speaking on the effects that music has had on both his life and the environments that he has been around (“Therapeutic”), is special within itself.

There is a full blown pride that Joell expresses for his upbringing and lodging within the Tri-State area, and it would be impossible to not feel welcomed to a makeshift seat on a milkcrate for about an hour as Joell takes the time to share not only his perspective for more than 10 tracks, but is also able to give listeners an open door to take a walk through his project past all the way to his illustrious present, which is more than the simple surface peephole that Joell could have wrote listeners off with. But instead, when Joell wrote this “Autograph”, he powered his pen with the strength of a memoir built for auditory indulgence.

Score : 4/5

Check out the album HERE