Featured Artist: Jay Electronica

In 2006, Nas proclaimed "Hip Hop Is Dead." In 2009, Sasha Frere-Jones, music critic for the New Yorker, agreed that the genre had run its original course as street narrative and political screed. Only party-rap was still thriving (on a commercial level), and primarily through the introduction of more European electronic beats as opposed to hip hop's traditional American blues and soul samples.

The concept of mainstream hip hop as a bloated whale carcass is not novel. Underground hip hop artists have been honing their disses for years at the expense of the sex, drugs and jewelry-obsessed mainstream rappers. While fun in small doses, many 'socially conscious' emcees have so dogmatically followed this trope that they've failed to create albums about anything fundamentally interesting, focusing more on criticism than art.

Underground, "backpacker" hip hop artists have been on the forefront of lyrical ingenuity over the past decade, running the gamut from political anthems to abstract word-association poetry. Their flows often have a highly technical sound, enunciating their assonance and internal rhyme in a manner reminiscent of spoken word or slam poetry. This approach sounds very intellectual but is often less than smooth and appealing.

Enter Jay Electronica, my new favorite emcee. His vocabulary and rhyme schemes are on par with almost anything the underground has to offer, but his delivery is pure gold. His flow drips charisma like only the greats - you can hear snatches of Nas' cadence, Jay-Z's confidence, Biggie's relentlessness (though without the deadly baritone) and the topical range and poetic license of certifiable weirdo genius MF Doom. Despite being from New Orleans, his sound oozes classic New York. His beats are a whole different animal - he moonlights as a producer (including laying down the highlight intro track, "Queens Get The Money" on Nas' last album), but he made his name and built his buzz by rapping over J Dilla beats for a mixtape and taking one even more extreme artistic plunge; Jay attracted notice when he created a nine minute, four act hip hop epic over Jon Brion's piano-and-strings score to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Completely devoid of any percussion, Jay held tight to the rhythm and laid down four segments of hushed but striking lyrical content.

The bulk of Jay Electronica's content so far has appeared via mixtape. He has a recording contract on sweetheart Erykah Badu's Control Freaq label, but his debut official full-length, Act II: Patents of Nobility has been coming down the pipeline for over two years now. In January 2010 producer Just Blaze and Jay said they had finally received Nas' guest verses and were ready to put together the final mix, but there is still no formal release date. "Exhibit A (Transformations)" and "Exhibit C" were both released on iTunes as singles in 2009, but beyond that you will find his material on the internet-only Style Wars EP, Victory Mixtape, What The Fuck Is A Jay Electronica Mixtape, Attack of the Clones Mixtape and more. Download the tracks below to get a taste of his two buzz-building singles and his experimental but eye-opening performance over Jon Brion's score to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Jay Electronica - Exhibit A (Transformations)

Jay Electronica - Exhibit C

Jay Electronica - Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)

Music Video for Jay Electronica - Dimethyltryptamine (warning: contains a strange intro, produced by Jay himself)