Jared Paul | Get My Ghost | Album Review
Saying “all art is political” is one thing, but living it is where the work begins. On his album Get My Ghost, Providence artist Jared Paul blends the worlds of art and politics, meeting them in the middle with immense urgency and brilliance. Sonically, the album presents itself as both frantic and engaging. The beats, produced by Tommy Fox, all give the album a cinematic feel. The production is dense and richly layered, pianos and drums resting atop each other. It is almost a humble presentation of Spector’s wall of sound, which gives a solid home for Paul’s staccato bursts of rap. What will perhaps strike a listener most about the album is Paul’s rapping. Not necessarily the rapping itself, but the ground he is able to cover in just twelve tracks. This is a firmly and unapologetic political album, but it is not done without nuance, something that often gets lost in brief snapshots of work. Something that I imagine Paul knows, having spent significant time as a performance poet and writer. Which lends to the album’s greatest strength: Paul’s ability to tell a story. In “Five or Five Thousand”, the album’s second track, Paul takes us through a journey of gratitude that he has built up through his days as a touring musician, giving thanks to anyone who has “lent a bed” or “a place to cook on the road”. It makes clear that this is an album about work, about a working class. Still, on the very next track, “Red Sweatshirt”, we are treated to Paul at his best: soft, emotional storytelling as he details an old relationship through the lens of his lover’s old red sweatshirt. The approach Paul takes to weaving these politics into his work is approachable, often tongue-in-cheek. “$8 Smoothie” is an anti-capitalist anthem couched in Paul’s search for a healthy smoothie. With the line “I’ll kiss a riot cop’s boot / live on Fox News / before I ever let you pump me for an eight dollar smoothie”, you may laugh for a bit before feeling the impact of what expensive health food can do to a poor community. So often, we hear political rap described as “angry”, or “not for the fans”, but I imagine that Paul has cracked a code here. Or at least followed in a long line of underground MCs that speak to a true pulse and a true community, and do it while still being complex and enjoyable. “Rockbiter” is an inspirational ode that moves a listener to contemplating survival against the odds, “Human Beings Migrate” is reflective and inviting. When coupled with some of the album’s more hard hitting and direct attacks by Paul.
Jared Paul : Get My Ghost by Jared Paul
The album ends with “Movement First”, a song that calls for protest action, over airy keyboard-driven production. To close the album with this song makes the most sense, as it makes the statement that the album is most reaching for. This album is, like all great political works, a call to action. A call to the action of protest, the action of examining the world we’re in, the action of building and maintaining a community. Jared Paul is the MC to carry this message with us. An MC who raps about what he has seen from the frontlines, and what he knows. The Movement reflects the people in it, none of them with just one emotion. Over the course of Get My Ghost, Paul gives us every bit of himself, but never strays from the album’s primary mission statement: The Movement is still very much alive, and you are needed in it. The whole you.
(We at Damn That Noise would like to Thank our guest reviewer Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib. His twitter is @NifMuhammad for providing the indepth look at a great album!)