Jahir & the Experiment
Label: Cherry Bomb
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Jahir & the Experiment
New York’s factory-new Jahir & the Experiment boast a little of everything for a lot of demographics. Essentially a hip-hop garage band high on their passion for melody, production and A-B rhymes, their unironic earnestness is infectious and forgives a great deal of audible inexperience. The impossibly sunny ‘New York Originalâ?� is as bratty as a post-rap They Might Be Giants, and when Jahir drops his sincere brand of hip-hop, the palpable grime is something of a shock. Some adjustment is required any time rap is delivered over live instruments, but this group’s dynamic is particularly elusive, as if they’re hesitant to show their true selves. Only on later tracks like the towering ‘Be a Manâ?� and the Bad Brains’inspired ‘One of a Kindâ?� do they bring their sleight of hand into full view: A seductive pop harmony perfectly sets up Jahir’s street-flavored sucker punch, and you never see them coming.
This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2006.