Day 20 - JASMINE - GOLD

I'm so much more impressed by the album selections than I was the singles selections! "GOLD" is wonderful, like no other hip hop I've ever heard. In his review of the album, Jaylee says that "'GOLD' really does everything it can to raise the bar not just for J-Urban music but for Japanese music overall." I read that and had a hard time believing it, or that I'd be able to tell. I mean, I'm a pretty plebeian when it comes to music; you've probably noticed that a lot of my reviews are "This is good because I like it!" and "This is bad because I don't like it!" I try to not to be facile about my choices, but I don't really know a lot about how music is created and produced, so my likes and dislikes are all that I have to go on. That said, this is definitely a different kind of hip hop than I'm used to. Good different. JASMINE works in so many different, interesting things - from uncommon instruments to melding in different genres - that the music is far from the boring sugar pop that you get from Nishino Kana or Koda Kumi. Every track has something to recommend it: "L.I.P.S." is a sexy song that doesn't go into the "gross" range like a lot of American music has been doing for two decades, and is a bad habit that Japanese music is picking up recently. "Bad Girl" mixes in a strong rock feeling, even using electric guitars, to give it a much harder sound than bass alone could. "dear my friend" uses all kinds of uncommon instruments like harpsichord and sitar. But even if none of that does anything for you, the vocal quality is unmatched. JASMINE sings so sincerely and passionately that she makes you sit up and listen. Even if you don't like hip hop - hell, especially if you don't like hip hop! - you'll probably love "GOLD."


JASMINE(ジャスミン)　「This Is Not A Game」 [PV]
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