STAY HOME - Jee Malik feat. Big Cozy
Artwork - “STAY HOME”
I have such a vivid memory of asking my mom if we can go buy rap CDs for the first time. I was 9 years old, and I remember walking into a record store in Florida, where we were the only white people, and my mom asked one of the employees “Do you have any rap CDs that don’t have any cursing?”
We walked out with two purchases, Mase’s Welcome Back and LL Cool J’s The DEFinition. Mase had just made his come back to music from his five-year stint as an ordained minister (this album famously didn’t have to feature a “Parental Advisory” sticker on the front), and as far as LL’s album goes, this was his tenth studio album, and I don’t think anybody worth their weight in Rap had his release on their radar, but this was my very strange introduction to Hip-Hop.
“STAY HOME” is soulful, honest, and rejuvenating; everything I can really enjoy in a Hip-Hop record, and the combination of Jee Malik and Big Cozy on vocals, accompanied by fellow Baltimorian Ave Harris (formally Mr. Genius Idiot) on production, comes together to create one of the more enjoyable collaborative tracks I’ve heard entirely from an in-house team.
Harris’s production sets the foundation for Jee’s thoughtful reflection on the life and times of an “introverted people person.” He demonstrates that knowledge of self countless times with an uncanny amount of honesty. Along with a deep vocabulary to pull from, this skillset allows Jee to sort of “bob and weave” in his delivery, with the skill of somebody who could be taken for a veteran. Big Cozy splits the middle of Jee’s first and third verses with thoughtful confidence that really solidifies this song as an ironclad piece of work. My favorite part of this song though is the hook, especially the vocal processing and how layers are utilized to create something that is abnormally hypnotizing.
“Myrtle Beach is no escape,” Jee declares on the third verse, and I agree; ain’t shit relaxing in Myrtle Beach, but I don’t know if there’s anywhere you can escape to find that (permanent) relaxation. I think that escape comes from the inside, and having that sort of stoicism to create that escape, even in the most un-stoic of situations, is really what I’m trying to find as I get into my late 20s.
So what’s the point in talking about the Florida story in the beginning? No reason. I just wanted to tell a lil story, and if you think that it’s goofy or lame, STAY HOME.
