So this is his latest album, and it is all over the place, to say the least. What I'd say is going on here is that, in order to showcase his creative talents and versatility, he's doing songs in all kinds of styles and even genres. And objectively, I reckon there's nothing wrong with that, but it's definitely not for me. In fact, as a strictly Hip-Hop guy, I kinda hate it when groups defect... like Whistle going full R&B, The Force MCs becoming the Force MDs, Everlast becoming Whitey Ford, Kid Rock going from rap to... well, actually, I'm fine with rock music keeping Kid Rock; they can have him.
A closer analogy might be Big Daddy Kane going Las Supper. Jones has clearly "graduated" to working with a lot of live musicians. That, plus branching out in different genres probably works for him doing shows in Delaware. And like Las Supper, where Kane still had a song where he killed it on the mic, Gentle Jones still has some dope rap stuff on here. You've just gotta skip around. So let's dig into it.
Discogs tags this album as "Hip Hop, Jazz, Pop, Folk, World, & Country." And at just ten songs, that can start to feel like one song per genre, but it does hue closer to Hip-Hop than that. Like the opening track, "The Day I Became a Robot," definitely has an old school jazz sound, but sort of the way Digital Underground might toy with dusty jazz samples and sing-songy vocals. It's certainly got some slick scratching over a funky loop. But it's also got silly lyrics and sung vocals I wouldn't revisit if I wasn't playing the whole album through... like a "Sex Packets" as opposed to an "Underwater Rimes."
The second song, on the other hand, I'll revisit. Like, now we're talking. It's got an even catchier loop and tight scratching for a hook, and Jones is actually rapping. He's flipping a freaky, maybe Freestyle Fellowship inspired flow, which works with the simpler, more repetitive track. It's called "Riding On a Cloud," and he's definitely flexing his elevated state: "in the city, the humidity's hideous and the shittiest idiots quickly rip you off penniless. My committee hits from Wilmington to the Caribbean; and my affiliates get so lit it's ridiculous. Flying higher than a hippy in a hot air balloon; might leave a footprint on the moon. Riding on a cloud and we're never coming down."
Let's speed run through the rest of the Not For Me tracks. The best of them is "Comes Love," which is an old timey lounge song. It's got a lot of good, live instrumentation, it's a classically written song and is generally quite good at what it's trying to be. I'm just not interested in that kind of song, so it's an interesting experiment, but nothing I'd recommend to a fellow Hip-Hop head. Then you've got "Once In a Lifetime Thing," which is a straight-up country and western song, which is a big no thanks from me. And still, sure, I can appreciate that even though I don't like country and western, there are good country songs and bad country songs. But Jones' country singing doesn't stand up to Dolly Parton or whatever other country singer I'd have to concede is a good singer even if I don't care for what they're doing. Finally, "Drink Up and Go Home" is right down the middle... better than "Once," but not as impressive as "Comes Love."
That leaves a couple more cool rap songs: "Catfish Vulture," "Ballad of a Fifty Year Old Skateboarder," which has a super funky instrumental and "Songs To Drive My Enemies Insane," the latter of which really lives up to its title, in a good way. And I looked this album up online, and the digital version is pretty short. Just those eight songs. But the LP has two bonus tracks that you can only get on the physical copy, rounding it up to a fell ten. And thankfully they're both Hip-Hop. "God Is Inside You" has a cool, spacey track and a chill vibe, but the repetitive, simplistic (and preachy) lyrics are just annoying. "I ask all the plants, can you tell me, where is God? And in the cities, I ask the people, where is God? I ask the doctors, where is God? I ask the teachers, where is God? Deep into the Forrest, I ask the dirt, where is God? I ask the worms, where is God?" And so on. Like, okay, I get it already. Can't you just say, "I ask everyone and everything, where is God?" and move on already? No, we have to go through the whole tiresome procession. Finally, we have "Night Light," which will grab your attention because it features Vast Aire. It's pretty good, but Jones' best solo Hip-Hop tracks are better.
So, all in all, an extremely mixed bag. A lot of talent is on hand, but it's definitely a record you'll want to skip through rather than relax and let play. Even if you don't have my particular Hip-Hop-specific tastes, the wide variety of musical genres, tones and mood is going to have most people alternating between hot and cold (putting all the rap on one side of the LP, Transformation-sryle, might've been nice). But some really good songs is more than most albums can claim, these days. Jones fans who enjoy the edge-case stuff like "Robot" should be very pleased with the album, and almost everyone should find some stuff to enjoy on here. The LP comes in a fun, full-color picture cover, it plays good and loud and it's inexpensive. So pick it up if you're in the mood for something non-traditional and you're prepared to keep your hand on the tonearm.
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