yO, Dont know why I havent posted this sooner lol but hear you go just in case you havent read it, hears my album review enjoy
Griff
J Griff – Window to My Mind Album Review
Holy Culture Live
Benton Logan
I often find myself getting on MySpace just to look around to see if I can find a Christian rapper that I never heard of that I like. The thing with no label, no name artists, is they have nothing to prove. When you listen to their music all you get is them. (Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of artists out there that come out with music that haven't found themselves and it is evident in their music.) Then you have artists who have it all worked out about who they are on the mic and you can tell by their confidence and style. This is exactly what I found when I listened to J. Griff's album, Window to My Mind. J really knows who he is as an artist and opens himself up on the album with confidence and says "Hey, this is my first album and I'm going to give it ALL to you." He gives us much more than an album filled with Christ loving words. This is an album that shows us struggles, triumphs and live lessons J learned by the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. He gives an album that takes the listener through some hard times and how Christ was the only way to make it through. Let's take a look at the album piece by piece to get a better look.
Let's start off with production. When I say this is J. Griff's album, I mean that literally. J not only wrote the album but also produced half of the songs on it. Usually when I hear that someone produced tracks for there own album I hesitate to get it because there are too many people out there that don't have the gift to do both. But with J it was a different story. I was excited to hear he did both because it was his beats that brought me to find out that he rapped. Teddy P told me about this guy in the Midwest that was making some crazy beats and that I needed to check him out (I'm talking about J if you can't tell.). Just listening to the 3 beats he had on his page I knew he was a great producer. J brings a nice soulful feel to his beats and does a great job using samples. When someone's beat says everything you need to know about the song before you hear someone rapping over it, ladies and gentlemen, that's hip-hop and that's "Window to My Mind". Now J did bring some other great producers to help add to the album, Red Lettaz, Logic and J Served, and they all have great production skills and I look forward to hearing more of there work. But we all know that beats alone make an instrumental album and that is not what "Window to My Mind" is, so let's take a look at the lyrics.
When it comes to lyrics my main focus is on 3 things: Do they talk about Christ?, When they do talk about Christ, is it Biblical? and Does the rest of their lyrics point you back to the first two questions? I know some people don't think you have to say Jesus 100 times in your songs to be Christ focused, and I agree. But on the same side, all of the lyrics on the CD have to point the listener back to the one thing that should be the focus of the album, Christ. "Window to My Mind" answers YES to all 3 of my questions. Right out of the gate on the first track J gives us an overview of his life and brings up an important issue. "I used to think that I was saved from hell but I wasn't, The devil had me tricked but I'm with Christ now cousin." Maybe it is just me but that stood out because I was like that for the greater part of my life. J steps out on "Rejoice" by encouraging the listener to praise and give God the glory now because that is our purpose and that is what he deserves. (This is where I pause to explain again why I like independent artists.) While listening to "Window to my Mind" some lyrics came off as strange. Without hesitation I got on Myspace and wrote J a message asking about the lyrics. J seemed egger and excited to discuss the lyrics with me. He explained the true meaning of the lyrics and now those lyrics are some of my favorite ones on the album. I'm not saying that all independent artists will do that and I'm not saying that all signed artists won't but it was nice that I didn't have to ask other people what they thought J meant because most likely they would have been wrong. (Now back to our regularly scheduled program.) On "He's Here For U" J is joined by HHH new comer Christawn where they talk to the guys that are on the streets about Christ. Christawn's style of rapping is different from J's but to me that is what made the track so great. On "Be Patient" J addresses the issue of patients and how it is directly related to faith. "You ever pray to God asking what He want, He will only answer when its time not when we want. I used to find myself asking and begging for days, then I thought about it and I was like Where's my faith? It's like a light went off inside my brain, you can't please God if you don't have faith." Patients is an issue for many believers and J smacks his listeners with the truth that "If you not trusting in Him your trusting in satin." That line left me with my jaw to the floor because it was so true and it was something I needed to hear. I purposefully left this fact out of my review until now for a reason. J Griff is apart of the group Neo Psalms, made up of Red Lettaz, Jon Content and J Griff. I didn't bring it up until now because of my favorite song on the album, "Midnight Visions", which is the Neo Psalms song. These guys have a really good sound together and this song was a great way to start to bring the album to a close.
Without question, J Griff is an artist that you should watch out for. I know that J's style is not for everyone but "Window to my Mind" is an album that I believe all will appreciate. Now if you're a Christian hip hop head, this album is a must have. J really shows himself to be a great artist, a great producer and a great man of God. J Griff's album "Window to My Mind" was released on January 16, 2008 and you can hear some of his tracks and can purchase his album on J's MySpace page: www.myspace.com/jgriff1983.
Production – 9
Lyrics - 8
Gospel Message – 8
2 Timothy 2:24-26
"And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."
