Like One Three #5

Jamar Rogers - Lazarus

‘Like One Three’ is a series highlighting albums of the past that may have gone pass people‘s head. I’m hoping that this article gives you reason to reach back and catch it ’Like One Three’. Shoutout to Drake and Odell Beckham Jr. for inspiring this concept. I present to you guys, Jamar Rogers.

I remember being in Hawaii and watching Season 2 of ‘The Voice’. This guy gets on the stage and Seven Nation Army starts playing. “I’m gonna fight em off” comes out and I’m like, “that’s my guy for this season.” And you know I was team Cee-Lo off top. So when Cee-Lo sent Jamar home I felt betrayed lol. I had to wait a good long while for Jamar to release an album but I stayed vigilant. So when the announcement came in 2017, I lit up. Then the album dropped and at the time I had a lot of gaps in my Faith. I didn‘t know how important this album, Lazarus, would be in reassuring me to stay strong in my Faith.

I went into this album knowing that Jamar was a former addict and HIV positive. This album showcased perfectly how he able to exude the aura he had on ‘The Voice’ his Faith has carried him this entire way. Jamar was able to give us an album about love and Faith without giving up any creative integrity. The way he combine a Motown and Gospel sound with seemingly tribal instrumentation and aesthetics was clean.

Baptize Me is the intro to the album and I feel like there’s a double meaning in the song. It sounds like he’s speaking to God and a woman to me. He asked “Can you make me clean? Can I dance there in the stream right next to you?” And I was already interested to see what he was gonna say next because I needed to hear something that helped with my wavering Faith. But it wasn’t even the lyrics that I needed it was just the fact that through everything he’s been through he was still able to project so much Belief in the plan that was made for him. It was inspiring to hear him sing with so much conviction. I instantly remembered why I was such a fan of his during his run on ‘The Voice’.

When I say Jamar gave us love songs He said/She said is one of those records that I can’t speak any higher of. It was Jamar’s version of modernized R&B where there’s trap drums and all that good stuff but he kinda speaks on modern day relationships extremely well. I think his voice makes every word of the song resonate that much more. The lyrics are not groundbreaking but his performance makes you feel like he’s a superstar talent in this game.

DOPE is possibly my favorite song on the entire album. It’s one of those songs that as soon as it comes on I’m engaged to sing every lyric. The comparison between love and drugs has been going on forever in music but Jamar Rogers just did the best for me. I don’t know if it’s the uniqueness of his voice or the instrumental with that bop. Alls I know is I run it back too damn much. I really don’t know what else I can say to let y’all know this song fantastic.

I named this album number 31 on my ‘Top 31 albums of 2017’ a pretty packed year of music in my opinion. But I praised this album for its uniqueness in sound out of every album released that year. The fact that this album still manages to pop up in my rotation after two of the more heavier years of music in recent memory is a feat in itself. Jamar has a voice that I feel can be successful in any era of music. I would love to work with him on something one day because I think he’s a generational talent that’s overlooked and under appreciated, and those are the artists the Induberantly Media platform is looking to cherish the most.

I wanna thank Jamar Rogers for being an amazing influence and inspiration for me through all these years. Your story and album is one of the reasons I can look at my family and my team and say “God is gonna make it happen, don’t fret about it.” You are able to do what you love through your Faith and I try to emulate that for myself, so far so good. Thank you.