Local rapper Jesty Beatz gives Formal Introduction
By Lisa Wakeland, Staff Writer
February 22, 2007 | 6:42 p.m.
Club-ready beats and sharp, insightful lyrics ignite local hip-hop star's Jesty Beatz's debut album, Formal Introduction. His first solo, full-length album possessed veteran-rapper quality.
Senior Jesty Beatz, whose real name is Darrel Greene, oozed a contagious enthusiasm for this album that made anyone around him excited to hear it. The desire to express himself, his personality and his love for all aspects of hip-hop was represented in his first track.
“I keep it real on the tracks,” Jesty said. “You can hear how a kid from Cleveland grew up on this record.”
Hints of 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and fellow-Cleveland natives Bone Thugs-n-Harmony can be detected in his voice and rhyme skills, but Jesty never imitates these rappers. He created his own unique lyrical style that flowed over the album’s original beats.
A tranquil, hypnotic piano melody flowed over a steady bass throughout “Certainty.” The autobiographical song described Jesty Beatz’s experiences of ‘making it’ as a hip-hop star and alluded to the ambitious nature of his personality.
Jesty’s lyrics expressed his life in an extraordinary way that gave the listener a sense of knowing Jesty Beatz without actually meeting him. He put bits of himself and his experiences in his music, something Jesty said he always admired about 2pac and Eminem.
He inhabited various vocal personas throughout the album, especially in “Wack Music.” These varying voices gave the impression of other artists singing on the record, but Jesty said it was all him.
“Rims” was one of the lighter, more amusing tracks on Formal Introduction. The end of the previous track, “Certainty,” said that no one wanted to hear his life story and suggested he rap about rims. With a slight comical tone, the song was reminiscent of the materialistic celebration found in hip-hop during the popularity of Cash Money Records in the late '90s.
When he spoke about Formal Introduction, Jesty emphasized that the album represented an essential part of him and expressed his excitement about expanding his current fan base.
“Follow my intuition, to pay off all my tuition, by gettin’ you all to listen to the music,” he rhymed over the familiar Stevie Wonder tune “Past-time Paradise” in Jesty’s “Back Down.”
His new single “Famous” was the hit that gave Jesty a following he never expected. “That song was number five on Kentucky radio,” Jesty said. “I don’t even know how it got there, but people really responded to that song.”
In addition to rapping and writing all the lyrics for the album, Jesty produced 13 out of the 18 tracks. The remaining tracks were produced by gEe, the other half of The BlockRunnaz production team, he said. “I have it on my iPod and I can’t stop listening to it,” Jesty said about his album. “Sometimes I surprise myself and am like, ‘that song is tight!’”
Some of his favorite tracks included “Day One,” “Something to Think About” and “Public.”
Jesty admited that sometimes he was unsure about the music and would second-guessed himself. “But I do it anyway and it works out,” he said.
Although this was his ninth appearance on a record, Jesty says that this was the album he wanted people to listen to because it was all his own. “I want this to serve as a record for where I’m at right now,” Jesty said. “It’s like, this is me. Let’s do it.”
Eight songs from the album were recorded at his house and the rest at the TCOM studio, he said.
Jesty designed the cover art and liner notes for Formal Introduction and assembled the entire album package – everything from buying CD cases at Big Lots to making copies at Kinko’s.
The record took eight months to produce. That’s almost as long as it takes to create a baby, Jesty noted. So does he consider this album his musical baby? “Yeah, it kind of is,” he said.
For Jesty Beatz, who went through a few name changes before choosing his current moniker, hip-hop has been part of his life for many years. “It wasn't until about third grade that I cared about a rap song enough to really pay attention,” he said on his Web site.
Kris Kross was possibly the greatest thing that ever happened to the aspiring rapper, he said. Jesty said he recorded his first song at 10-years-old. “It was called ‘No Hope With Dope,’” he said with a laugh.
During his teenage years, Greene developed an interest in the production side of the music business, but he said he likes all aspects of making records. “If I’m not rapping or producing, I’ll be the guy behind the scenes,” he said.
Formal Introduction showed that Jesty Beatz had the ambition and talent to succeed in the music business. He said he hoped to make it in the Cleveland hip-hop scene after he graduated in spring.
His album is on sale now at Haffa’s Records, 15 W. Union St.
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Find out more information by visiting: http://www.jestybeatz.com and his MySpace profile at http://www.myspace.com/jestybeatz
To purchase the CD visit: http://www.buymycd.net