Jagwire

In the world of rap and circumstance, there is room for pretty much everyone. Unreleased Tension, Jagwire’s latest, carves out the MC’s lane among the mediocre, if not the motivated. He raps over production that is more advanced than his flow, as is the case with “Shangri-La,” a track about overcoming the paradox of love and losing yourself to love. Yonnas Abraham has a beat-making cameo on that joint, which gives it a sophisticated air, and Jagwire gives a better performance based on the butter-smooth tones in his voice rather than any lyrical dexterity. Nine tracks deep, as the album wears on, the beats get more abstract and the rhymes simplify. The missteps occur on “Maze,” where the annoying, whining vocals fail to match the bouncing staccato beat, but the saving grace lies in the Parkhill Short Bus-produced “Biscuits and Gravy,” which is a pleasant throw to a more Houston-like sound with DJ Screw influences.