RESPECT. Review: Brooklyn Emcee Jay Bel Comes Into His Own On ‘Bohemia’

Last January when Brooklyn native Jay Bel dropped his video for his single “Kate” via Pigeons & Planes, it showed a young talent with an extraordinary raw sense for melodies and hooks. Like most, the song struck a cord when the now 19-year-old emcee rapped about his distaste for the hypocrisies of college and his adoration for weed. After such a strong debut solo single, and a strong collaboration tape with fellow Sleeper Camp rapper Jimi Tents, Sex You Can Dance Too, fans of the artist anxiously waited for his own tape to be released. Those fans go their wish May 3rd in the form of a spacey new aged EP named Bohemia.

Bohemia features 7 tracks which include the singles “Kate” and “Acid Lake” and boasts one of the strongest mixtape covers of the year which if you look closely can show art that represents song names like “Acid Lake”. The EP starts off with the suspenseful sounding “Intreaux” which features Jay flowing over futuristic synths about his struggle to get just to where he is now. The song does justice as the intro as he properly introduces the journey he’s getting ready to take us on with lyrics like “I’d like to welcome you/ to a place where a ni**a ain’t concern bout it.” just before the it transitions into a hard drop of drums, melodies and forward sounding muffed synths. Jay then takes us into “Acid Lake” which personally is one of my favorite songs of the year. The chorus shows Bel flexing his singing chops where he sings about taking it to his enemies in a soulful way. Jay also dives more deeply into his thoughts with the lyric “I ain’t never been the one driving the boat/ but they like how I flow/ when I rose they afloat” which in my opinion can be seen on him touching on his unselfishness. More on that later. The 3:52 track not only shows Jay’s frequent ability to ride the wave and the sonics of the production, it also shows his growth from previous songs he’s done. On Sex You Can Dance Too, Jay had impressive lyrics, but at times was overshadowed by Jimi Tent’s strong flow and presence on the track. On this track as well as the strong banger “Bullsh*t” Jay exhibits his progression as his flows are more tightly compact and his ability to command the track is more clear. On “Bullsh*t”, the 19-year-old rapper shows his patience being tested over hard hitting machine gun high hats and new age keys. “I been up too long for this bullsh*t/I been pondering how I’m too strong for this bullsh*t” says Jay on the chorus which is the overall theme of the track.

Though the aforementioned songs were strong in their own right, the stand outs from the strong debut EP were definitely “Kate” and “Often”. “Kate” aesthetic represents the overall aesthetic of the EP with lyrics that open the song, “Went to school it didn’t make sense/ but thank god that we made tents” which shows where his head was at. As said before “Kate” also showcased Jay’s potential to be at a higher creativity level than most others with bars such as “gang green like a bucks fan”, “pocket full of pot like I walk with a dish”, and my personal favorite, “They ain’t know a ni**a spit like he talk with a lisp”. If “Kate” showed his lyrical potential as an emcee, “Often” displayed Bel’s potential as an overall artist with his surprisingly good vocal chops on the wavy dance track. Though it’s not very dense in lyrical presentation, the melodies and electronic vibes carry the song and help Jay live up to his nickname Groove.

Overall the 7-track EP was exactly what I was looking for in an EP from the Big Apple native. The only track I particularly didn’t enjoy was “BGL” which I felt saw Groove settling for the norm instead of pushing the creative boundaries as usual. Other than that hiccup, the project is a perfect appetizer to a full length project from Bel as well as maybe another collaboration with Jimi Tents. It’s one of the stronger projects of the year so far and showcases Bel as an artist to watch for the near future and more. Stream the project above and let us know what you think yourselves.