JAY FADE - Coke Numbers (Single)

Last time we covered this impeccable wordsmith was last year’s “NAYOMI”, which was a warped masterclass on his dense lyricism. But now he’s back with his 1st release of the new year & at least for me personally, it is yet another curveball musically from Fade, especially with the sound of it’s predecessor being taken into account. Whereas that record was sonically more poppy with a bit of electronica in it, here he’s tapped into a more soulful vibe, sampling the late, great Willie Hutch, Jay takes this as the perfect opportunity to get a little more introspective on them. Records like this automatically call for it. You should automatically assume you’re gonna get some of the realest spill from an artist if the beat has a soul sample in it.

On the 1st half of this record is where we get that self reflection from Fade. Where he comes from, made him built to handle things like depression, after trauma being such a normalcy for so many generations, though he has the wherewithal to understand that, it’s this struggle that builds character & pushes individuals such as himself to really strive for what it is they truly want out of this life. For him, this “lil hobby” some people like to claim is your rap career, his motives for even pursuing it to begin with are beyond the typical aspirations of rappers. It’s not so much about the money for him or at least not all of it cause it’s clear he wants to help those dear to him, as much as it is about the respect he knows he deserves.

I’d like to take this opportunity to give a brief shoutout to beat switches, one of Hip Hop’s unsung heroes, there is nothing quite harder than a proper beat switch & Fade’s example is just that. On this latter part of this record, Fade waxes eloquently, still introspective but in a masterfully skillful way that really showcases his capabilities as a lyricist. His rhyming is elite level, upper echelon type shit, lyricist to lyricist, don’t think I don’t notice just how much he’s packing into these verses. He’s come a long way from the dark places he’s once treaded & despite how hard life can get at times, he’s grateful so as long as he makes it home safe every night, though I’m certain he won’t go out without a fight. Yet another example of why Fade should be on everybody’s radar, the man is too nice with it. This is working man music!