Jay Sean…what kind of name is that? Definitely doesn’t strike you as an Indian – more like British-Asian-wannabe-total-British kind of person. They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, or a person by their name. But then again who the hell is Jay Sean? His real names Kamaljit yaar! (I’ll just call him JS for the rest of this review )…
If you don’t already know about him and his famous partners in rhyme Rishi Rich and Juggy D, or his part in the bachcha brigade (as quoted by India Today), then fikar not! After listening to this album I promise you that his history aint gonna b any mystery…
JS’s album is a chemical reaction between a typical BA (stands for British Asian- please note where you saw this word first ;)) London lingo, r’n’b beats, a few old hindi song lines here and there, a bit of panjabi lyrics mixed in here and there, Asian flavours, and attitude!
This guy’s out to remix your world with his music…and trust me, the music’s good!
This album contains 15 tracks altogether (or so they think) and “parental advisory-explicit material”. Now if I sit and write about all of them I’ll bore you all to death, but I’m sure mentioning a few will give you a gist of the tracks.
Skits and raps
There’s a lot of this stuff, but he’s really good at it. So good that sometimes you have to listen a couple of times to the track to actually understand what he’s trying to say. But once your brain registers the details you get to know the guy better…he expresses himself a lot ;)!
Eyes On You
This rocked the summer charts, and was especially popular on the underground music scene. The honeyed lyrics are somewhat heard before, but it’s a great tune for dancing to.
One Night
This song’s alright…there’s Juggy D aswell doing all the hay hay hays and balle balles! As well as that there’s the repeated “dil ko churana” line from an old hindi song. Repetitive lines get on your nerves sometimes, but luckily it works quite well here. The lyrics are new, its about a guy who has a one night stand with a girl and him singing about how she takes it as a serious relationship. Its different.
Stolen
This was a hit single as well. You’re bound to have heard it too- it’s the video with Bipasha Basu in it! Then there was JS on various occasions mentioning how chuffed he was with himself for getting one of the most sexiest women in the world in one of his videos…
This songs really got it going, right from the very start with the “chura liya hai tumne”s. It’s a slower tune than the previous ones mentioned, more meaningful and mellow. But its still got the beats in the background to stop it becoming boring.
Dance With You
This is a brilliant tune- the Rishi Rich anthem, its like what he’s all about! This is the track that kick-started the career for all three guys- JS, Juggy and Rishi. It’s a classic now, played at nearly every single dinner and dance!
Meri Jaan
This is another slow mellow tune…the lyrics don’t really have anything to them, but the mix of panjabi and the music make this track enjoyable to listen to- its kinda one of those “roote to manaao” songs, where ladki’s upset with ladka and ladka’s singing for her. But its cute nevertheless.
Me Against Myself
You listen to this track and you’ll know where its all coming from! This one’s all about lyrics, so keep your ears wide open. You learn a lot about our Mr JS from this track- all his flaws and justifications. Yep, that’s what its about- him dissing himself. Well it makes it much more harder for anyone to bad-mouth him when he’s done it all himself ;)!!! It’s a really kool gaana- JS’s rapping skills to the fullest!
So that’s it right? 15 tracks CD khatam? WRONG! If you keep track 15 (me against myself) playing for a little while longer….you get 2 bonus “hidden” tracks! Ok, so the first one is pretty bhakwaas, don’t think I need to tell you about it. The second one is “who the hell is Kamaljit”. Well you lot already no the answer to that! I’d give this guy 10 on 10 for the lyrics! Its really funny, and JS is brilliant at imitating voices! Yeah his BA rapping travels at the speed at light (again). But then again it is rapping. And it sounds really kool. And it makes you laugh. And the tune gets stuck in you head…
So mes amies definitely go out and pick up this CD if you’re looking for something new, fusion is definitely in and happening! Btw (I don’t know how much this interests you) I did some of my sketches while listening to this, and they turned out really good!