Jay Electronica has returned with a new project called A Written Testimony: Leaflets — listen to it below.
Clocking in at just seven songs, the surprise project serves as a supplement to the Roc Nation MC’s debut album A Written Testimony, which was released in 2020 following a painfully long wait for a full-length release.
Leaflets features guest appearances from Quentin Miller and DRAM, as well as an intro from Diddy, marking the embattled mogul’s second on-wax cameo since his legal ordeal following Kanye West‘s “Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine” earlier this year.
Of course, Puff has been a longtime Jay Electronica supporter and unsuccessfully attempted to lure him to Bad Boy in the late 2000s after the breakout success of “Exhibit C.”
Despite the excitement and frenzy that a new Jay Electronica project would normally create, Leaflets is not a conventional release. A good chunk of its 29-minute running time is taken up by sampled audio clips rooted in Jay’s religious beliefs and conspiracy theories — ranging from the existence of UFOs to skepticism over climate change.
When he does grace the mic, however, it’s special. On the bars-heavy “Abracadabra,” Jay Elec confidently declares: “The entire trajectory of my career screams ‘fuck the industry’ / Yet you can’t have a debate about the greats and not mention my name.” And “Japan Airline 1682,” which samples the indie rock band Vacations, finds Jay channeling his inner rock star — a curveball not even his day one fans would have expected.
Another memorable moment comes on “Four Billion, Four Hundred Million (4,400,000,000) / The Worst Is Yet To Come” when the New Orleans native hints at more where this came from.
“Hov been such a brother to me and so patient with me,” he spits, alluding to his frustrating lack of regular output. “I gave him 19 albums in one day and he ain’t even have to pay me.”
Does this mean more new Jay Electronica is on the way?
Considering Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn), his mythical, long-lost album which leaked back in 2020, finally hit streaming just one day ago, it certainly feels like Jay Elec-Hanukkah is up to something.
Stream A Written Testimony: Leaflets below.
