• 14th January
    2013
  • 14

JGivens Is ‘Caught In The Reign’

I’ve been to a lot of Christian Hip Hop concerts, but JGivens is the sickest emcee that I ever saw live.  He is freakishly good.  It’s almost scary. 

JGivens has been releasing visuals for his #OccupyMondays mixtape in a completely unique way.  While most rappers rent a whip, start a cook out, or get a bunch of mindless people to stand behind them, JGivens uses none other than the ancient landscape of the Middle East.  He’s captured his travels to teach at a conference for Christian leaders braving persecution in Northern Africa.

JGivens’ booming, sample laden beats and complex 100 mile per hour wordplay is the soundtrack to his amazing pilgrimage.  His latest video, “Caught In The Reign” (produced by Mighty Jay Mac) shows JGivens casually strolling through Israel’s ancient ruins while a stunning temple stands behind him.  The dichotomy of an emcee saying “trying to season the earth like Ms. Dash” while standing in front of an ancient backdrop may cause a double take, but it actually makes sense.  His music is so vertically centered on God that it has to power to bring the listener back to the beginning, when it was nothing but us and our Creator.   

Once you check out “Caught In The Reign”, check out my favorite video so far, “Kill Bill Collectors”, which was resourcefully shot by an iPhone.  Website  Bandcamp  Twitter  Facebook 

Correction: JGivens’ “Caught In The Reign” video was shot in Israel, and not Egypt as I previously mentioned :-) 

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  • 23rd February
    2012
  • 23

JGivens Is On A Roll

JGivens is a gift.  The Las Vegas emcee is on a roll with his #OccupyMondays series.  I assumed these songs would be compiled as an album, but JGivens sees this as sparring practice.  That’s quite impressive because JGiven’s “Roll Rock Sk8” shows him in prime form.  His latest song has a cheesy game show feel with an interesting rhythm section properly used by Banda Black Rio.  When it comes to the flow, JGivens practically skates on the track.  JGivens’ rapid fire lyrics produces one head turning metaphor after another.  If you missed out on JGivens’ stellar “practice” songs, now is your time to catch up.  Twitter  Website

“Pleading BLOOD like a vampire interview / The Kingdom’s at hand / So this is finger food”