Don’t Sleep #15
Jooselord - S.K.U.L.L (Days I Won’t Forget)
Where to start with this one here? Lets start with how I’ve become aware of Jooselord. I was having a conversation with the Queen, Venomiss, and I told her I wanted to come to peep a performance. She told me about the Caskey show in Raleigh and that Jooselord was a dope performer, we have similar tastes in music so I was interested to see what kind of artist he was. I enjoyed a good amount of the performances that night but when Joose performed the weight behind it felt exponentially heavier. I was drawn in immediately, I started at the wall and two songs in I was much closer, nodding and swaying without thought. By the time he got off the performance was over all I could was “what the fuck, damn, are you serious...”
Once me and the guys got back in the car i had to check out the albums. Days I won’t forget was the first tape I seen so it was a go from there. The tone that was set with Intro/Rap or Basketball(skit) at the top of the tape let me know early that I was going on a creative’s journey. They were enlightening and funny. The skit touched on the ideology that black kids could only aspire to be athletes or musicians. The idea of being an accountant confused little Billy when it was presented to him. I felt that shit.
That leads right into black mindset, which quickly reminded me of early Tyler the creator music, just based off tone of voice and production. The subject matter picks up from the Skit before it. He’s speaking on a younger version of himself where he‘s being belittled by his peers because his path wasn‘t one based around being flashy, dope dealing, or athletics. I respect that he let us know early on this album that he has something to say and he was gonna get it off without fear.
Trump Tower comes off a skit where Donald is speaking of Mexico in a not so nice or accurate light (surprise) and Joose roasting the hell out of him. On the song he gets straight to it, breaking down how America was never for Blacks or POC. There’s so much real spoken on this record it’s refreshing to hear someone really dig into the fact that this is stolen land and the privilege that has been allotted since its colonization has a good majority of those with it afraid to acknowledge nor allow any others any of their own. Living in the Land of the Free means nothing when your born of slaves. I’m so glad that this song exists. It’s thought provoking and puts stuff into perspective while being a slapper.
“Fifty dead black boys, no one over twenty five, maybe if they skin was a different color they’d be alive.” Twenty five seconds in that‘s how the verse starts and it hits heavy. Monologue is a powerful record for its approach of speaking on what we are going through living as black people. Living with the fear that you won’t make it home or someone you love doesn‘t because of an encounter with the police. The fear our parents have whenever we leave the house due to the climate we live in is real and it’s scary thinking that one day if things don’t change we’ll inherit that same fear with our children. With that being said we can’t forget that we matter and we should treat each as such.
All I’m gonna say about Pigs is that shit is super tough in the car, I’m afraid to see that joint go up in the club though. There’s not one bad record on this album. The energy I felt at that show from Jooselord was some Wu-Tang/Tyler, the Creator type shit. It was inspiring and had the feel of someone who has been controlling the crowd for at least a decade. So what kind of face do y’all think I had when he told me and the homies he’s been doing this since he was 27... he’s 30 now. It’s a beautiful thing that such talented people reside in North Carolina and you better believe I wanna work with all of them, Jooselord especially.
I wanna take some time to say thank you to Jooselord for being such a revolutionary in a time where conformity is far more profitable. It inspires me to want to continue to speak the way I do on subjects of injustice that needs to be highlighted. I appreciate that you took time out to kick it with us before leaving the show, you impressed some dudes who aren’t easily impressed and hopefully we can connect on some music shit. I’m a fan and this album has legit taken over my album rotation since I left the Caskey show.
