Jermiside: "Crisis Times"

Through his Red Giants collaboration with Brickbeats and subsequent guest appearances on Lessondary releases, Jermiside has established himself as something of a 21st century extension of Resurrection-era Common. This is a welcome addition to the rap scene considering Com Sense is now all peace, love, and Gap, but even moreso because Common never seemed to completely flesh out the incarnation we first heard on his best album. Resurrection (1994), while containing glimpses of personality, often gets too preoccupied with its own cleverness to say anything substantive, and thus unfolds as a stream of dense talent that’s arresting but a little frustrating. The first Red Giants album, great as it was, suffered similar afflictions, Jerm occasionally cramming his verses with puns and references to the point of critical mass. The calling card of a lot of indie rap has been “dope beats, dope rhymes, what more do y’all want?” The kids want something to chew on once they’re finished digesting the metaphors.

Jermiside hears you, children, and he just wants to make things right. So, a mere ten seconds into a leaked track from his upcoming mixtape with DJ Low Key, he self-defines and sprinkles in a bit of social commentary: “I ain’t a nigga, coon, or recipient of a silver spoon / We caught between college campuses and where the triggers loom.” See? This is easy for him. And he doesn’t even have to switch up his steez, effortlessly rattling off lines about Jesse Owens, shrooms, and marrying “repercussion” with “reaper cussin’.” It’s the same Jerm, now with 50% more personality. He seems more comfortable than ever talking about himself outside of witty shit-talking, directing the boundless energy of his wonderfully scattershot free-associative style into something of a narrative about how his rhymes substantiate him. It’s not a startling metamorphosis, as he’s moving along the line of progression we all hoped he would, but he looks as if he’s pushing forward at Usain Bolt speeds.