Jamal – Illino (Album Review)

Illino is the new album from the rapper Jamal. The album starts with ​’Lose Control’, a song, if you can excuse the pun, where the production and artist have lost control of their art. The rapping sounds more spoken-word and seems to go in a different direction with the instrumentation – the instrumentation itself inc​ludes a sample of Missy Elliott’s ‘Lose Control’. The rapper sounds out of breath, the vocals and instrumentation not in sync.

It’s a pain to listen to, but when you dig into the lyrics, you have a lyrical persona who’s chatting up a girl. A lyrical persona who says, ‘They call me Papi’. Overall, it’s a lovable persona. They say they’re not gonna touch the girl without their consent. As I review the song, I feel that it could have been better without a beat. 

‘I’m Ill’ has a very understated beat – so understated it could have been non-existent. What’s better about this joint is that the instrumentation does not distract us from the vocals. However, an understated beat is not enough to hide the flaws in Jamal’s rapping. The rapping sounds amateurish and unpolished. The rapping also seems to stutter. ‘One of the lines in the song goes: ‘All I’m trynna to do is be the one that inspired me’.

‘Hustles’ also features a very pared down beat, the major component in the song being Jama’s rapping. We have him rapping, ‘I ain’t caught up in the culture. Money ain’t new, man.  

The beat in ‘Shake It Fast’ is more authoritative and sounds like the producer was in charge. It’s an upbeat, pulsating beat. So sad it only plays for 29 seconds. There’s no rapping here, just some lady singing. This is a waste of a good beat.

‘FTCU’ starts with no beat; just rap vocals. Jamal’s rapping is top class here. His deep voice comes out nicely. One feels that here he’s succeeded in what he’s been failing all along. My question: Why does such a great artist produce bad music? ‘More money, more problems, we hear him rap. We also hear him rapping about a girl, I take it. ‘Big bird. Long legs. Caramel complexion. 

Vocally, in ‘Megatron’ Jamal seems to take off from where he stopped in the last song. There’s an energetic but low-key beat. However lovely the beat is, it distracts us from the rapping. 

‘Moment 4 Life’ has instrumentation that derives from Nicki Minaj’s song of the same title. The person singing in the song sounds nothing like Jamal. Of course, it’s acceptable to derive from other artists, but it’s kinda bizarre to almost have no input of one’s own.

SCORE/Poor:  Jamal has a great voice. It comes out in about two songs on the album. Most of the tracks show an artist who’s a shell of themselves. It’s kinda nice for Jamal to ‘reach’ out to popular songs, but there’s an art to it, and perhaps once you start wondering what his unique contribution is, you’ve already been taken off track. The instrumentation on the album is mostly mediocre, although I found one standout beat. Jamal should make better music. This album shows potential. And while I have been harsh in this review, I think Jamal has been inconsiderate for his listeners: It’s really a let down to bring people to your album when they’re going to be listening to beats from Nicki Minaj’s hits. On the light side, though, it’s never a bad idea to listen to Nicki Minaj’s hits! 

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]