Eureka! It’s Brooklyn’s Jedi Nemesis

LoveForPeace Vol. 1 – Eureka! is the mixtape release from Jedi Nemesis, a Brooklyn MC (by way of Miami) with a reason to shout… well.. Eureka!

The hustler’s life, or at least the personification of it, often fuels careers for lyrics in hip-hop, with many artists happy to rhythmically describe their involvement in such negativity. But there are those who, in the spirit of the reformed who seek to steer others from such a path, shun the glorification of a rough and tumble history.

Jedi Nemesis has had a good share of street stress and legal wranglings, but one might not know this listening to LoveForPeace. As his bio states, “Jedi Nemesis is no stranger to being behind bars as he fought a life sentence nearly a year ago. He removed those bars mentally and physically as he expresses on his Eureka mixtape track titled ‘No Bars'”.

It’s true. There are definitely cautionary lyrics sprinkled among JN’s thoughtful wordplay, and most tracks are quite listenable, production-wise. We hate to compare artists stylistically (no we don’t), but we can’t help but to feel a Lupe Fiasco vibe on several songs, such as “Tuesday Afternoon”. While we think Jay-Z’s “Feelin’ It” beat could have used a little more vocal oomph, the musical interaction is better over the more smoothed-out tracks. It’s more Jedi Nemesis’ style to speak than shout.

On Vicarious, JN suggests, “I tell ’em don’t be the copy machine, be the original scheme”. We think the style and voice comparisons to Lupe may hound Jedi Nemesis a bit, but there are billions of less-desirable MCs one could be compared to, so this is not a bad thing in of itself.

Jedi Nemesis is a lyricist and an artist, and as such, some tracks hit and some miss, but all in all, we think that his style, willingness to experiment, and background story are enough to warrant further investigation.

We’re pleased that these days it will be by open-minded hip-hop heads and not DTs.

Jedi Nemesis – Report Card

Download LoveForPeace Vol. 1 Eureka here.