After unveiling the album art for Act: II Patents of Nobility, Jay Electronica took it a step further by releasing the full version of “Dear Moleskine”. I guess we were supposed to pee our trousers in excitement, but it was an anti-climax announcement – not even a semi or tingle down there.
The build-up for the Just Blaze production dates back to '09 after Jay Elec shot a teaser video in Nepal and Dubai. While we try to refrain from behaving like piranhas to live bait when anticipating a new record, receiving a full version of “Dear Moleskine” with one verse only brings further quandry rather than relief. It's been three years, but why exactly did they shoot all that footage for what appeared to be an awesome music video for the track, only to have the final cut be one verse and it just stream on rap sites?
Just Blaze blessed Jay Electronica with that beat. It's sincere soul craftmanship at its finest, a masterful production that's right in Jay's comfort zone, which is clear from the opening bars of his verse.Jay Electronica is a man with a great deal on his mind at all times. He's unrivaled in his ability to express moments of clarity pitted against weight-of-the-world woes. On “Dear Moleskine” he poses a question in a letter about the depths of depression and it lodges in your gut, even when he references Bill Murray's role in Groundhog Day.
We're not suggesting that Jay actually needed three-years to write one verse, but it's peculiar to end that verse with “I keep getting visions of the ghosts from the past, so I spark another L and I go to the pad…” only to not follow-up with something else from the pad. Patience is a virtue, but right now it feels like a pain in the ass. How does a song like this fit into a record? Is it the intro? Is it the closer? Will it stall the flow if it's somewhere in the middle? These are all questions that pester us with each listen, but can only be answered when we possess the mixed, mastered, and pressed version of Act II – and we have no idea when that day will come.
If URB is on to something by calling Jay Electronica “some sort of hip hop Jack Kerouac”, then we must lock him in his mother's attic with a typewriter, a scroll, and an endless supply of Benzedrine and coffee, in order to get the album we deserve. Meanwhile, we'll keep up the lengthy coverage on our end, thanks to a renewed prescription of Bennies, coffee, and Jay Electronica music.
Jay Electronica's Act II: Patents of Nobility is out on Roc Nation, once he figures out how to get out of Puxatawny.
