The creation of JA remains the stuff of lore: crafted over an 11-day period upon relocating to New York City, tracks sequenced and numbered by the order of their creation, immediatetly following a 4-hour MPC crash course with no previous producer’s experience with the console. While at its core a beat tape, j inthename‘s unique, virgin approach yields a convex hip-hop through lenses of dada and expressionism. JA is rooted in an earthly focus, seeking dirt and grit in its raw sketch-like feel, with incidental artifacts from the tape performance shaping the compositional outcome. Subtle echoes of a native spirit, at times evoking an atmosphere akin to entheogenic ceremony, give way to the raw mysticism of fusion and drone seeping up to the surface. j has previously lent his drum skills to many groups including Sonnymoon & others, and like his drumming, the most surprising thing here is the minimalist strength of his perspective.