Review Summary: Jazz Cartier, the new prince of Toronto?
It’s a shame not many know about Jazz Cartier. With
Hotel Paranoia, Cartier’s sophomore effort, the Canadian emcee proves why he deserves to be elevated to a higher stratosphere than he currently resides.
As of now, Jazz Cartier has been receiving buzz in hardcore hip-hop circles due to his phenomenal debut mixtape
Marauding in Paradise. And of course, as expected, Cartier wants more. He wants mainstream success.
What’s more important is that he knows he’s ready for that level of stardom.
Lyrically,
Hotel Paranoia deals with that very concept. “Talk of the Town,” the opening track, deals with his newfound success in his hometown while also expressing his desire to be the next rapper from Toronto to achieve the kind of success akin to Drake. The majority of the album runs this course while also letting himself play the role of unrepentant sinner, melancholic seducer, partier and overall reveler in debauchery.
What makes Jazz Cartier so fascinating is his versatility. He seamlessly traverses through a vast array of styles while grounding it in the dark and ominous vibe
Marauding in Paradise first introduced to listeners. When he creates a turn-up anthem, Cartier makes the track twisted fun as he growls and barks through his verses. “100 Roses” and “Opera” are expansive cinematic pieces of the gritty and gnarly, testaments to Jazz Cartier’s dark infusions of party soundtrack. Then there is “How We Do It,” which manages to be both homage and refreshing take on a hip-hop classic. He makes reference to Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story,” “La Di Dodi,” and Montell Jordan.
While those moments were a mix of ominous party songs, Cartier also allows room for their more hazy counterparts. Tracks like “After the Club,” “Better When You Lie,” and “One Day/Feel Away” are more somber in composition and attitude. “Tell Me” is the slow cascade of bedroom ambience. These songs encompass the calm and shaky clarity of the come down, the drive home from the party.
Hotel Paranoia in a way seems to be more interested in constructing hooks than its predecessor, probably for mainstream appeal. However, songs like “Red Alert” seem like a misfire. It is
too mainstream and formulaic and empty, paling in comparison to the inferno erupting in almost every other song on the mixtape (check “Save Me From Myself”). But no matter the aggregate of styles and characters wandering through his rhymes, there is always Jazz Cartier in the center of it all.
In the post-Drake rap world of Toronto and beyond, every rapper seeking to hustle his way to the top, especially those coming from the Six, will eventually be compared to the Six God himself.
“I can never be six God, I am the sixth sense” he fervently raps on “Save Me From Myself.” Because even with those comparisons, it is clear he does not want to be Drake. Jazz is determined to carve his own path in the rap game.
And even if the background of Jazz Cartier and his staggering development eludes you, it doesn’t matter. If anything, all one really needs to know is this:
Hotel Paranoia is fire.
