March 03, 2016

Jeru The Damaja "Me Or The Papes" (The Source, 3/97)


"Perhaps inspired by such recent adversarial developments as the mixed reception to his Wrath of the Math LP and his thorny feud with fellow jewel-droppers the Fugees, Jeru avenges the damage of these dents in his prophet's armor with his last single serving. While "Me Or The Papes" resumes the saga of Jeru's previous ode to wicked women, "Da Bitchez," with a call for greater understanding, do not mistakenly conclude that the Damaja's gone soft with too much love to give. Jeru's true trump card arrives in the form of the B-side spin-off, "Me, Not The Paper," which cleverly reworks the original version's anti-materialistic message into a moody and personal diatribe directed at - you guessed it - fake thugs. If Premier's masterfully dissected piano provided the perfect musical romper room for the sun-toucher's earth lessons to frolic on the original, here his despondent chords of doom sublimely supply the sort of commanding forum some too often found missing from Wrath: "As long as there's breath left, I'll father the fatherless / If shit was real, Brooklyn'll snatch that chain off your chest / Don't fess, we know why you rock that vest / Hard on records, but really p#ssy, check it / I do this for me, and not the paper." The prophet hasn't sounded this surly since "Come Clean." - The Source (3/97). Poor quality, but peep the video below...


If you'd rather read it directly from the source - or save a copy - check it out below.