I am going to start this review by stating my conclusion upfront: I believe that RAtheMC will one day be mentioned amongst the pantheon of elite female MC’s that includes the likes of MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Salt-N-Pepa, Bahamadiah and, Da Brat. Now let me get into the review of her latest offering, The Grace Jones Experiment, which will detail some of the reasons I have come to that conclusion.
The album/mixtape is bookended by an intro and outro track titled “Jesse Boykins III” which features Ra giving the listener insight into why she chose the title of the project and what to expect, and then telling them her hopes for what they get out of it at the end. Both of those tracks also feature airy vocals that provide their own narrative to the project sung masterfully by, I’m sure you have guessed by now…Jesse Boykins III. That type of almost academic approach to beginning and ending the album give the listener a cue as to what is in store: something that the artist obviously took her time to actually THINK about. So much Hip-Hop music today is just a stream of throw away cliché-brand name-trending topic-latest gadget mentions strung together in a semi-entertaining fashion over a beat that sounds good on club speaker systems. That’s fine, if all you want to do is dance, but for those of us that actually grew up on Hip-Hop and revel in hearing it when it’s done well, we are often left wanting. RAtheMC definitely does not fall into that category.