Within the Ateneo there are few homegrown artists currently as well-known as Jeremy Jasper Acosta, AKA J-Coasta. Often referred to as “The Realest”, there are many who question the rapper’s place in music. Despite this, the prolific rapper has been in the game for quite a few years now, and it doesn’t look like he’s stopping anytime soon. In January of this year, he released his long-awaited sophomore release, Dawn.
In Dawn, J treads upon new ground, exploring different ideas and sounds within his songs. The album starts strong with the titular “Dawn”, wherein Acosta’s repeated refrain about rising up above the sun is intersped with lyrics about his journey as an artist. Of all the lines on this album, one line from this song really struck me: “I’m proud that I have a single parent”. Acosta raps backed by beats of modern trap-influenced production. The song ends with a call back to one of his first songs, “The Realest”, where the motif of “J-Coasta the realest” is interpolated near the end of the song to truly drive home the journey that he underwent.
Listening to this album changes your very concept of yourself. When we listen to good music, we never really stay the same person. We share the experiences of innumerable people through the thousands of songs that we listen to throughout our lives. This is the point of the album at its core. J shows us how he reaches for his dreams in a way that is so driven it almost makes you want to become a rapper yourself. When he tells you to “rise like the dawn”, you almost feel a sense of wonder well up inside you. A sense of wonder all too often lost in our world today.
Another highlight on the album would be “Ballin’ Like My G”, which is my personal favorite song on the album. Here, Acosta talks of his aspiration to ball like his “G”. Who exactly this refers to is open to interpretation, be it the name of a person, God, or simply an expression of passion.
When talking about this album, the production needs to be mentioned. Out of all the tracks I think his production shines the most on the track, “Laf Trip”. Here, the song shifts between different phases building up to a cascade of synths. While the song isn’t as personal or emotional as his others, it’s one of the most fun songs of the year. And sometimes, fun is all you need.
“Beauty & the Beast” may be one his most self-aware songs yet. Here J professes his love to a girl with a “hot body with decent personality”. We can admit, his emphasis on a hot body over a good personality is something very prevalent in our world today. Yet, J is not immune to these faults himself. This prioritization of the outward over the inward is something very primal, which may be the reason for his referral to himself as a “beast”. However, we may also interpret this as the word beast in hypebeast culture, a culture heavily associated with rap. This double meaning is all very ironic, and the song as a whole serves as a critique to our culture, while still serving as an honest profession of love.
However, where J-Coasta reaches highs with his production, he also falls short. While his production is quite novel and interesting at times, it can start to feel stale and too similar by the midpoint. The bass is too overblown at points, the drums are tinny, and there isn’t much deviation from generic rhythms. In “The Dream”, the backing track only makes the constant repetition of “the dream” even more jarring. Then there’s “Standing Ovation”, which is the usual song where J calls upon a girl to “clap that ass”, while not necessarily a bad subject, it doesn’t really do anything new with a tired topic.
A lot of tracks fall somewhat in the middle. "Villains” and “Give Me Some Love” while good drag on by the end, “All Good” could have used more emotional and clear vocals, and “The Dream” is an ok track but doesn’t really finish the album off well.
Overall the album could have used more direction and editing, as it feels very bloated at times. I wish that more time was spent on each track, even if it meant a shorter album. The bonus tracks that come with the physical and online copies of the album don’t exactly help this case either.
Often people say that J-Coasta isn’t a serious artist, but how do we truly classify art as “serious”? They say his flow is bad, his lyrics are dumb, or that his voice is distracting. While I do agree that technically there is a lot to be improved on, I say that this isn’t the only point of music. We create music to express our passions, fears, and dreams, and Dawn has that in spades.
J isn’t afraid to be vulnerable in this album. His thoughts are bare and naked. While many in society find such nakedness unusual and laughable, it is with this very nakedness that we are born, and it is with this that we will die. Our own identity is something that most of us can never truly define. Who are we? What do we do? And why are we here? By our very nature, we are doomed to never find this out. Yet, when we reflect close enough. We might get a faded snapshot of who we were at one point.
The reason that we look back fondly on our youth is not because of who we eventually become, but because of who we eventually did not become. The possibility of the future scares us, yet it is when we are scared that we truly know something is happening in our lives. Dawn captures this very lightning of youth in a bottle. It poses us with the question: where would we be now if we unabashedly followed our dreams the way J did?
If one day you go to the Ateneo, you may find yourself walking around its halls. A diverse crowd full of possibilities will engulf you like clockwork, every time the bells ring. Yet through the sea of people, there stands one man. A man who stands proud knowing that what he does is real, and that in the end, that’s all of him that will remain.
Best Tracks: Dawn, Ballin’ Like My G, Beauty & the Beast
Worst Tracks: Standing Ovation, The Dream Rating: 3/5 Image source: https://soundcloud.com/d_j-coasta/sets/dawn