Review - Jovo “Bruce Leroy”
There’s something poetically beautiful about watching a fighter shadow box. There’s a flow between the left jab, the right straight, followed by a left hook. It’s a practitioner in their natural element simulating the dangers of fighting without the presence of actual danger. This artistic display of flow, attack, presence of mind, and stamina upkeep are all well integrated into the fighter’s DNA, and the idea of shadowboxing, for lack of better words, is to keep their skills sharp.
Within hip-hop, there are parallels to the shadow boxing elements of fighting. There’s a flow of metaphors, the stamina upkeep to match their producer’s energy, and the presence of mind that they’re competing with other artists. And while no artist has ever had to box in a ring, they sparred with themselves on an artistic level, shadowboxing with story-telling and the often braggadocios elements associated with rapper’s stories.
The debut album of Jovo, titled “Bruce Leroy.” encompasses each of these elements of boxing, putting forth a verbal shadow-boxing clinic. An album filled to the brim with entertaining stories, metaphors, and knockout-worthy verses, what concludes is an album that manages to entertain, inform and depart without ever boring, or over-barring its listener.
Throughout “Bruce Leroy.” It becomes evident that Jovo’s rapping opposition is himself. Each line becomes a challenge to see just how complex he can construe his flow to twist and turn on a dime, staying measured and careful with every line.
Without the backing support of a catchy course, Jovo proves himself to be a one-verse assassin throughout this rhyme-filled masterclass in hip-hop, as each verse possesses an unnerving calm air around the emcee.
This is evident on songs like “No Sweat.” Where the grizzled-voice rapper spits, “Can’t choose sides, especially if it’s not my war/ Love my guys, but my kids love me more/ Where I’m from we see shells, but no see shore/ Try not to be surprised if you happen to see a corpse.”
Jovo’s skill throughout this album slowly becomes a reckoning as the album progresses, as much like shadow-boxing; he finds an untapped rhythm that never lets up, and each bar becomes more dangerous than the last.
Perhaps the most significant elements of Bruce Leroy’s production are the beats themselves, which often portray a gloomy road of realism, allowing Jovo to paint the canvas of true-to-life stories for listeners to either relate to or understand Jovo’s road to now.
With solid production matching the solid pace that Jovo puts forward for Bruce Leroy, it’s a perfect combination that acts as a level of skill that few will ever see from an emcee.
