Rap entered the zeitgeist as CNN for black people, a definition coined by Chuck D of Public Enemy. While rap undergoes redefinition at an erratic pace, the voice of the street remains at its core—it’s simply grown to include boulevards, cul-de-sacs, and pavement beyond the black community. Jared Paul is one of those voices who found a broadcasting platform through rap. A militant activist with rap records and a rap sheet documenting his various protest arrests, Paul is adding published chef to his list of accolades alongside the release of his Get My Ghost record.
In the 90s Vincent Vega wasn’t buying the market rate of a $5 milkshake and likewise Jared Paul takes issue with inflation gouging on Get My Ghost with the track “$8 Smoothie”. Heavily dusted with a Rhodes keys and ZZ Top-esque riffing, “$8 Smoothie” gripes with an old school candor that would get the nod of approval from the Fat Boys. As for Paul’s disapproval, he states “I’ll kiss a riot cops boot live on Fox News before I ever let you pump for an $8 smoothie.” Knowing damn well the ingredients to make 10 smoothies are available at your local farmer’s market for $8 in organic veggies, he’s written the Class War Chef zine, a 26 full color page recipe book of Jared Paul’s favorite vegan, gluten free recipes. (It’s also a video food blog available on Youtube.)
With Get My Ghost being distributed through Sole’s Black Box Tapes label, the fellow revolutionary-minded rapper turns up on “Down With The Bank Kings” to give JP Morgan Chase a notice that after the revolution they’ll still be employable as sewage sweepers.
Jared Paul tackles issues aplenty on Get My Ghost—thrifting versus being a human advertisement among the yet to be mentioned—but “Movement First” closes with the cognizance of his activism perceived as a fool’s battle. “I’d rather live a life worth writing about than / than write about somebody else / doing the shit I’m supposed to do too.” He maintains change comes from grassroots movement and while Get My Ghost hints of an apparition of self, Paul is as tangible as it gets when it comes to living out his convictions on record.
Jared Paul’s Get My Ghost, out October 9, is streaming in full on the Black Box Tapes Bandcamp and available for preorder.
