I noticed that J.Dot makes his best music when he’s rapping about being a responsible man, or when he’s creating something with substance and meaning, as opposed to trying to make contemporary radio hits or battle rhymes (although he is an excellent wordsmith). This is mostly what happens on his 4 track EP, “To Whom It May Concern”, that narrates the evolution of relationships in its various forms. To put it all in perspective, this sounds like a powerful and mature work. Something tells me J.Dot experienced things that impacted him over the past years and this album is bred from that.
All throughout the recording J.Dot never disappoints and always leaves you wanting more. He has the intelligence the rap society needs. He speaks the realness you can feel. He paints the family life and tells you what’s missing in the picture.
He reflects some of his own life’s hardships and we are told through this recording that there is more to life experiences than what normally meets the eye. His music is a reflection and extension of a changing psyche and emotional state in each track.
In his own little way, the Trenton based hip-hop artist is fixing the rap game, rapping about real issues that we need to tackle within our own families or relationships. “To Whom It May Concern” offers insight into the human condition, told from the eyes narrator.
It’s a narrative that allows J.Dot to increase his reputation as a gifted MC while displaying his own growth and maturity as a human being at the same time. The EP is an intimate one. It unfolds like an old journal that’s been unearthed and shared with an audience of one – that is, an audience of you.
The fragility of life and relationships shapes the frustration and desperation that permeates “To Whom It May Concern”. Low on frills and rich with introspection, this EP will immediately resonate with serious listeners.
And if sincerity and storytelling matter more than sensationalism, then fans will find this recording to be a solid, if sometimes turmoiled collection of songs.
From the title track, “To Whom It May Concern” to “Blind Love” where KD does a splendid job of making this a hook-filled melodic banger, and “Last Bitch” to “Niya & Jay”, J.Dot is telling a story here, and he wants the listener to know it, so he makes the words the center of the songs.
By working with slower, simpler beats, J.Dot makes the story he tells and the EP feel more genuine. Throughout the EP there are a number of themes present in the narrative that J.Dot tells.
A large part of the recording focuses on love, life, loss and death, but you can discover these themes for yourself, as they unfold, by simply listening attentively. J.Dot does also show tiny flashes of optimism by focusing on some of the good aspects of life and love, so there is a ray of hope somewhere at the end of the tunnel.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD – FACEBOOK – REVERBNATION
