Best of Month: AotY #10: JID's "The Forever Story" via Dreamville / Interscope

 

In a lot of ways I think I’m afraid to cover hip hop on this blog. What do I, a white girl from New England, know about black music from Atlanta? Sure, I can enjoy it, I can criticize an instrumental or a melody choice but can I really analyze the lyrics in ways that I do with almost every review I post? Every year though, there’s always at least one record so strong I have to at least talk about it at year’s end and this time it’s JID.


I first heard JID on singles and features last year and all the music he dropped was on regular rotation for me. To me it was the brutally honest storytelling and a songwriting style that made two songs into one and made them work that kept me coming back for more. I knew I needed to hear a full length and despite the fact that I knew there was a back catalog to go into I wanted to hear what he had to say today first.


What came out did not disappoint. It had everything I loved about the songs I heard last year and though it was more of a wait than I expected it was all worth it. From the get go on first single “Surround Sound” JID is telling a story of his hometown to the tune of two completely different beats but manages to weave it all together seamlessly. The record paints the whole story; one of family struggle, discovering music, leaving home and looking back at what was wondering if you did it correctly but knowing the choices you made were your own. Without the final track “2007” the trail ends cold but fortunately the record was reposted to streaming services with the formally YouTube only track. I know I can’t relate to everything but I have my own strife with my family, I also left home to chase something bigger and I think that’s something worth sharing.


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