“To be great is to be misunderstood.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Locally, DXnext alumni Ayatollah Jaxx’s debut album, This Is My Jihad: Harb & Salaam, received praise with a “CD of the Year” nomination from the 2009 Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards. However, close-minded critics misconstrued his Islamic theme as “disrespectful” in a post-9/11 America. With Jaxx and Hip Hop getting off on the wrong foot, a proper reintroduction is in order.
Hello, Hip Hop.
Despite Wiz Khalifa’s nationwide success and Boaz’s blogosphere accreditation, Pittsburgh has fought an exhausting battle for recognition. While Mel-Man, RZA, and Sam Sneed have all walked the streets of the Steel City, on “Reflection,” Ayatollah Jaxx remembers, “[Dr.] Dre came to visit, RZA had to leave / Our city dry heaving from the business and the greed.”
AD LOADING...
Pittsburgh faced another setback last year with the sale of WAMO, the city’s sole Hip Hop radio station. Sounding the alarm, Ayatollah Jaxx and Jasiri X reunite for “This Is For The Radio.” Over glaring horns, the Jena 6 activist rhymes, “The whole world going in flames, and we talkin’ / ‘Bout T-Pain chain and who’s Lil Wayne tossin’ / Then you heard about satellite, and you bought it / But then you realized they playin’ the same garbage / … / In the Burgh, we lost our only black station in the market / That’s what happens when you don’t support local artists.”
Striving for intra-city unity, “I Will Not Lose” brings together a combined talent pool of 14 Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards nominations, via a groundbreaking collaboration with Common Wealth Family’s Roscoe Wiki. Unfortunately, for those outside of the Steel City, the Kanye West-inspired track fails to resonate as much as other tracks like the heartfelt remake of 2Pac’s “Pain.”
With music as his therapy, Ayatollah Jaxx uncharacteristically bears all on Hello, Hip Hop. Accentuated by fellow Arab producer TPM’s “Da Mystery Of Chessboxin’” scratches, “Coming Of Age” recounts the story about the culmination of his troubled youth, a felony gun charge conviction. Now struggling to find employment, Jaxx expresses his frustration on “Job Fair,” spitting, “I still struggle just like you / Choose between food and clothes, that’s the real life blues / Move back with my parents / How you think I feel? / Imagine my ordeal / Waiting for phone calls from jobs that’ll never come / So can you blame me if I bring out steel?”
On his résumé, Ayatollah Jaxx’s key selling point is his sheer versatility. Initially considering a career as an R&B singer, he wrote most of Hello, Hip Hop’s hooks. Seducing jazz-infused soulful instrumentals, Jaxx, nearly unrecognizably, sings harmoniously “Bitter Sweet’s” background vocals and “Ms. 416’s” bridge and hook.
AD LOADING...
In spite of his early ambitions, Ayatollah Jaxx started his career as a battle rapper. Responding to a local diss record on “Wha Gwan?! (Sound Boy Burial),” Jaxx channels “Shook Ones (Part II)” and Freddie Foxxx-like high energy, providing a glimpse of the verbal ferocity which frequently led him to the final four of Rhyme Calisthenics, Pittsburgh’s official emcee competition.
While This Is My Jihad: Harb & Salaam was esoteric, Hello, Hip Hop’s offers something for everyone. Winding back the hands of time, Ayatollah Jaxx returns listeners to the golden era of boom bap, effectively erasing any preconceived notions of the self-proclaimed “Burgh’s Rakim.”
Purchase Hello, Hip HopHere
