REVIEW OF JAYSO’S “MAKING TASHA PROUD” ALBUM

This article was published on Loud Sound Ghana (https://loudsoundgh.com/2016/01/review-of-jaysos-making-tasha-proud-album/)

Artist: Jayso || Album: Making Tasha Proud || Label: Skillions Record

After about a decade of thirst for some good music, Paul Nuamah Donkor, popularly known as Jayso quenches the thirst by showering us with refreshing songs packaged in a body of work with the title “Making Tasha Proud.” Some may ask why would Jayso make an album after all these years and dedicate it to just one person? Why Tasha? Who is Tasha?

Jayso Making Tasha Proud

Well, Tasha happens to be Jayso’s greatest fan, and she doubles up as an aspiring rapper. She had been looking up to the Skillions’ bigwig for inspiration but unfortunately got more disappointed and discouraged as time rolled by. Upon knowing this, the “Pizza & Burger” hitmaker decided to get Tasha back on toes and feed her needs with this album. He uses ‘Tasha’ to represent all his fans, everyone who relates to his music and all who need that elevation. Proud yet?

The album touches on various aspects of life.

To set the ball rolling, he preaches greatness. Being the lead single off the album he narrated the Tasha story on Making Tasha Proud. With help from former fellow Skillion members Copta and Kevin Beats he basically talks about achieving greatness and claiming what’s yours on Two Thumbs Up. Winning Be All That I Know as the name implies falls into the victory and ascendancy category.

Making Tasha Proud tracklist

Love must be a necessary topic to Jayso as he discusses love and relationship issues on 7 ‘frigging’ tracks. He sings his heart out on Deeper and Tripping Over You. He delivers a classic with soulful singer Haidara on Say You Love Me. He offers  interesting advice on Obaa Mu Baa Nie… the message is quite clear, thus, he entices young ones not to go in for a material girl, rather concentrate on “stacking dough” and sticking with that loyal girl. He narrates a quite relatable break-up story on Shiela Said No and talks about his love partner on Tag Team.

Bursting out of what may be referred to as annoyance, Jayso addresses haters on Do-Re-Me, Little Monsters and Sit Yourself Down. He throws shade on They Wanna Know, and tackles other random issues on Enyom No, talking about Hip-Life going down the drain, Mercy Mercy, Have a Party and presents his life on My Daddy Is A Champ. Such a heavy project huh?

Jayso, well known as a man of substance delivers great lyricism and pure content. Sticking to his brand of completely avoiding foul language, he carefully selects words and puts it in sentences that’ll send the message out perfectly. He involves puns and metaphors which are outstanding elements of rap.

        “Stuck behind the computers, believing the hype, like they sick, but they lying(Lyon); Lucious” - Do-Re-Me.

        “Why drop the work for free like philanthropist” – Shade.

        “Got a bone to pick like a soothsayer” – Shade.

        “This is made for the stage; Tyler Perry” – Shade.

        “Love is a web, we connected; no wireless” – Say You Love Me.

        “I wrote it in clouds, thumbs to my iPhone 5S” – Say You Love Me.

        “On my marks, no one gave me a headstart” – Obaa Mu Baa Nie.

These and a few other lines I’ll however refer to as basic puns since it can’t put most Hip-Hop heads in a frenzy. For an “old gee” like Jayso and a rapper of his caliber, honestly, much more was expected of him. There’s an indication that he wanted to make the album primarily relatable, but putting in a couple of hard-knocking punchlines wouldn’t have hurt a soul. However, his rhyme scheme was on ‘fleek’, especially the in-rhymes on They Wanna Know. His delivery was on point, and he detached himself from flows he’s not comfortable with.

A few artists who happen to be friends were featured on the project, thus the GH rap heavyweight, Sarkodie, dropped 2 verses. Kobi Onyame, Copta and Kevin Beats laid dope rap verses which ameliorated the album. The latter arguably had the best featured verse… his switch of flows, rhyming patterns, and lyricism were at its peak. A.I’s sung hook made Making Tasha Proud easily accepted by the people. I instantly fell in love with Haidara hearing her chorus and Raquel kept me moving my body to the music. Not to forget the vocals of Nessa (Jayso’s daughter) which made My Daddy Is A Champ extraordinary. 

Jayso with ace producer, Coptic

As a beat producer himself, Jayso takes pride in producing all the songs except 3 he took from G-Mo and the intro handled by Mike Millz. He exhibited growth and apt creativity with the beats. He wonderfully put a High-Life groove on Making Tasha Proud that’ll get your old man dance along gently, probably with his white handkerchief. The R&B songs are my personal favorite produced songs, especially Say You Love Me produced by G-Mo. Jayso’s first love, Hip-Hop is his playground… he sticks to the usual Western Hip-Hop type beats he’s known for. He shows diversity on Mercy Mercy, proving how he can be a threat in the Trap world. Ending the album, he does the magic again on the Afro-Pop tune Have a Party. The instrumental will surely get you out of your seat or will leave you tapping feet and bopping heads along. The featured producers delivered excellence. The sampled loop and invigoration Do-Re-Me comes with puts the listener in a ready mood for the album.

Without fear of taking my words back I’d say Jayso is a digital genius. The perfection on the post-production is what every ear desires. The vocals clearly match excellently with the beats. He did his homework, thus carefully blending the autotune effect so it doesn’t sound irritating. Dang! what did he do to the Mercy Mercy edit? During my first listen I was wondering who was on the track. The mastering stage came out good. Behind the boards, none of the young cats is messing with Jayso.

This is how far Ghanaian music has gone. The album has more than enough classic moments to be considered worth the wait. A corner of darkness of the music industry has been illuminated by rapper, singer, songwriter and producer, Jayso. Tasha just had a smile on her face.

ALBUM RATING: 7/10