Album review: Jay Rox – Outside The Rox

“Before my mamma knew that I was so different,there were alot of things that daily she insisted,like doctors or lawyers are the only ones I raise , so there will never be a failure in your days. But I never saw myself doing anything better than the beats I was editing , so every night,every night I stayed up living that life that i made up…”

A couple of weeks ago Jay Rox released his highly anticipated album “Outside the Rox” . Prior to the album, he had released a number of hit singles such us “kumutima” , “mvula” and “ituntulu”. With every new single the hype grew and everyone was eagerly awaiting the album. In January 2015 he dropped the first official single “Auto pilot” , an incredible, smooth low tempo track , that set the bar high for the upcoming album.

“Outside the Rox” is an incredible album .I could go as far as to say its the best Zambian album of the year so far ! Everything from the production to the lyrical content is top notch . You can tell a lot of effort was put into the making of this album. More often than not , most Zambian artists make music that sounds similar to each other due to following trends . This is not the case with Outside the Rox , it is fresh and original , Jay Rox is in his own lane .

“I grew up looking at the FINDECO / now im standing toe-to-toe where you think im finna go / im finna take the music from Zambia to Senegal / take the music to the world till I reach my pinnacle…”

Outside the Rox is a hiphop album fused with some elements of dancehall (as in “Joanna” and ” Steady“) and other influences. The lyrical content is mature, as it deals with some personal issues Jay Rox is going through( in “How mamma raised me “), as opposed to the usual bravado and swag talk that most rappers deliver. He shows he is a good storyteller with some as uplifting verses (in “Not for sello“)and love songs( “Autopilot” ,”Cake“) . This fact gains Jay Rox a wider audience for his music as he has songs people from all walks of life can enjoy.

Stand out tracks

I love all the songs on the album but these are my top 3

Outside the box – “shes a 10 without a calculator/ my number one shorty shes my motivator / she speaks my language like an interpreter/ mami let me tell you/ when im with you, im outside the box” this is an infectious song that will have you dancing the whole night . It features Ghanaian Award winning dancehall artist ‘Stonebwoy’ .

Time of my life – is a motivating song that encourage one to strive to achieve there dreams and remain positive even if nobody is supporting you. “..even though they talking ,they can never do the walking , such a thing is very shocking..”

Not for Sello – is an uplifting song that tells you that whatever difficultly you may be going through ,never compromise your integrity and do something you will not be proud of, because you are not for sello . “… eventually she looked at me and told me it wasn’t meant to be, she told me she was tired of being tortured physically and mentally, she told me she was done ,can’t take me like kantemba cause im not for sello”

“Outside the Rox” is a top class album that will definitely stand the test of time . All the songs are special in there own way . It will be succefull not only on the Zambian market but international !

“…when mamma knew that , knew that, her son could do rap , do rap, she held my hand and bumped every track and told me look forward son never look back …”

Autopilot

Not for sello

Joanna

BY KAPA187