Avg Rating: 
3.7 ( 11 total votes )
If you’ve strolled the sidewalks of Manhattan lately, you may already have encountered the work of De La Vega: simple, seemingly childish, but always iconic chalk drawings with captions that range from the profound (“Become your dream”) to, uh, “Gay Fish.” Inspired by the street artist’s contributions to NYC’s visual environment, Booth newcomer Jelani uses him as a springboard for lyrical reflection on his latest single. Beatsmith Freddie Joachim sets a laid-back, contemplative mood with tunefully understated jazz samples as the Harlem native lets his mind wander. Though he indulges in a few gripes about his penniless post-collegiate lifestyle (and a couple swipes at today’s materialistic, disengaged youth culture), he doesn’t neglect to self-administer a reality check, cannily observing, “A bad day to us is a broken phone, a stained shirt, and the boss won’t leave us alone / but overseas, Egypt for example, a family and everything they own is dismantled.” While De La Vega isn’t set for inclusion on any forthcoming project, those who appreciate Jelanie’s positivity and insight can keep it locked to the Booth for all the latest.
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Member Reviews and Ratings
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DJ Booth Crew  Total Ratings: 11684 |
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Reminds me a lot of K. Sparks materials - relaxing, jazzy feel production-wise with intelligent rhymes over the times. Nice headphone-headnodder music.
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| Posted on Feb 25, 2011 |
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| Posted on Feb 25, 2011 |
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Jelani is impressive, lyrically this is good, production wise; pretty good. Worth 3 stars.
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| Posted on Feb 25, 2011 |
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| Posted on Feb 25, 2011 |
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| Posted on Feb 25, 2011 |
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Nice flow. Really like the line, "It's not what it is, it's what you make it."
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| Posted on Feb 25, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 70 |
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Really dope. Reminds me of the shit I grew up on. Checking for this dude from now on.
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| Posted on Feb 26, 2011 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 676 |
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Beat sounds like: what's the meaning of life , what's the meaning.....but a nice track....i like
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| Posted on Feb 27, 2011 |
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def in the rotation and real subject matter good production
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| Posted on Feb 27, 2011 |
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He was dope lyrically, and its got like a jazzy beat
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| Posted on Mar 02, 2011 |
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nice track, real laid back beat and the lyrics are dope as hell. first time ive ever heard of jelani but ill def be keeping my eyes open. love how every song i click on on booth is so real, the booth is doin their own thing, supporting real music and im lovin it, thanks for the realness.
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| Posted on Mar 04, 2011 |
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