Steve 'Flash' JuonIt feels silly to me to explain Jedi Mind Tricks at this point. It also feels arrogant to NOT explain. Assuming every single person who reads this review knows the history and couldn’t use any additional info, just because I’ve known about them for over half of my life and FEEL like it’s public knowledge isn’t helpful and arguably rude. So let’s start with the “over half of my life” part. JMT dates all the way back to 1996 in when two high school friends from Philadelphia decided to make music together – rapper Vinnie Paz (Vincenzo Luvineri) and producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind (Kevin Baldwin). Over the years the lineup has expanded and contracted, but at its core JMT has always been those two people. “The Bridge and the Abyss” is that same core, 22 years removed from the group’s inception.
Now since I’m taking a chance this is your first time with Jedi Mind Tricks, you’ve probably noticed two things right away from watching or listening to “San La Muerte.” The first is that Vinnie Paz is (obviously) Italian-American, and the second is that he raps like there’s a perpetual ball of phlegm in his throat. He’s gotten gruffer and raspier over the years, but it has always been part of his charm from my perspective, so the mo’ raspy the mo’ better. There’s no splitting hairs on this one — you love it or you hate it. I’m also going to say something that’s been stuck in my head for a while now and if I don’t hammer down this nail it will bother me. I think his delivery has always helped his credibility with people who might have found him sus. Some people say white rappers are “a guest in the house of hip-hop” before, but I’ve almost never heard anyone question Vinnie’s position as an underground emcee.
Vinnie certainly doesn’t typify the stereotypes of a white rapper anyway. He’s a former Catholic who eschewed his childhood religion in favor of the Muslim faith. He doesn’t have songs about frat parties, jumping around, whipping big cars and clubbing with pop stars. Thanks to Stoupe and a list of like-minded beat maestros like C-Lance, Aaron Hiltz and Scott Stallone, Paz embraces a dark and moody sonic landscape with pugilistic rap bars. He’s got both punches and punchlines. It’s like letting a pit bull off the leash and seeing it tear into tracks. I’m not sure either religion approves of the sentiments of a song like “Hell’s Henchman,” but he’s making it for the fans who expect him to body beats.
“It’s sneaker boxes but it ain’t no shoes up in the box
The rap Paul Bunyan, Vinnie movin with a ox
Pistolero Pazzy gon’ be shootin at a opp
The 50 cal barrel lift a loser out his socks, yup!”
So here’s the truth about Jedi Mind Tricks. This group (or arguably individual + producer) is exactly the type of narrow band broadcast tailor made for what was once derisively called “backpacker rap” fans. Vinnie and Stoupe aren’t trying to go mainstream. They’ve be fucking insulted if someone handed them a Grammy Award. Their choices of who to work with for cameos reflect the lack of fucks that they give, whether it’s Czarface on “Torture Chamber” or the late Sean Price on “Legacy of the Prophet.” I wish he was still around to spit the bar “smack niggaz who want Trump for President” at a few people. Nobody here is trying to offer olive branches unless it’s to smack you in the face with them.
I’m not sure how else to say this but “The Bridge and the Abyss” might not be for you. It might just be for me and a few people like me, and I’m okay with that. It’s a growling, snarling, brooding hour of music with a relentlessly unapologetic emcee and his favorite producer doing what they do best. This isn’t Ambien music. It’s more like a case of Red Bull with a vodka chaser. You might feel like you can run through a wall head first after listening to this album, but please don’t. This is either exactly the kind of shit you like or absolutely the last thing you’ll ever want to hear, but if you’re the former and not the latter, you’re happy Vinnie just keeps getting more and more gritty the older he gets.