My Shadow by J-Steez starts out raw, as punch-in-the-face, rock rap. Listening to the first track, I want to buy a Camero and crank the volume to 11. But there’s also something cathartic here, with songs like “Goin’ Under” hypnotically wringing a wet towel over and over again, or the tick-tick end of “We Will Not Stop.” Mr. J-Steez is a master of the slow-fast-slow and slides into the romantic numbers towards latter tracks. Lotsa sampling here, but I’d love to see a live performance of this album with a full band, Red Hot Chill Pepper style.

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