Sy ShacklefordWith “I Hope These Gems Stay With You”, Nenjah Nycist and Trust One have created something of an addition to old adage of “East Meets West”. Respectively, the Brooklyn-based emcee and the San Diego beatsmith seem to meld nicely together with aggressive lyrics over lo-fi soulful backdrops. Upon first listen, it’s clear from the opening that Nenjah represents his native NY’s brand of hip-hop in his rhymes with his flow and penchant for both wordplay and multis. For Trust One, his productions are sample-heavy and ranging from lush jazz to boom-bap beats.
The album begins with the vintage soul-looped “Universal Gems”, where Nenjah makes ‘gem’ references frequently throughout while Trust caps it off with a vocal sample explaining the value of a gemstone. On “Take A Pic It’ll Last Longer”, Nenjah’s voice and flow take a low-key monotone for the first verse. Overall, it’s a braggadocious track, with Nenjah exalting himself and encouraging all to take a photograph of him for longevity. Trust adds cinematic aspects to the production with sounds of cameras flashing. “Kryptochronalite” features Kurious & Chuck Inglish and has a piano-driven improv jazz sample as the backdrop. Also, the album’s cover is a comic book-inspired drawing of ninjas and their weapons of choice, notably katana blades and gem stars. The awfully short “Hit the Site” makes use of those weapons as Trust incorporates the sounds of blades clanging in the production, and Nenjah boasts that he “ain’t scared of Hell, it’s kinda mild / I’ll just die online so, that way, I’ll still be in the clouds”.
“What You See Is Me” is a lyrical rumination on the ups and downs of trying to achieve goals in the music business. Nenjah gets his sing-a-long on during the beginning of the short “You Don’t See Something Is Wrong?” over Trust’s vintage R&B backdrop. For “Built For This”, Trust creates a moody boom-bap atmosphere for Nenjah and U.K. hip-hop artist Nuse Tyrant to wax about their inner demons. “Trust and Nenj” is exactly that: Just Trust and Nenj. Over drumless production, Nenjah cuts other rappers down to size. On “’97 RZA”, Trust does his best rendition of the titular RZA’s style: Flipping an obscure sample with the vinyl crackling present as Nenjah employs dense slang, onomatopoeia, and threats to “leave your head in a glass like Zordon”. Nenjah makes use of his storytelling abilities on “Crash Outs”, a cinematic narrative about coming up with your day-1 and the distrust/paranoia which oft-times will rear their heads. Employing a prog-rock guitar sample, “Tofu” features 90 Wyse whose verse is great coda for the track:
“Lhyte Worker Freestyle” is the final track on the album, but there are three bonus tracks after. For the former, it has the aesthetics of a freestyle, though it’s technically a “freeverse”. Trust’s production on here is reminiscent of Onyx’s “Walk in New York”. For the extras, they begin with “Just Showing You Devotion”, which has an atmospheric vibe to the production and melody to the hook, courtesy of Nenjah. “TBT” has horn and saxophone samples along with appropriately throwback lyrics referencing various old television shows and fashion trends. Finally, “Define This” has a very chill production with nimble piano key samples and Nenjah illustrating the dichotomy of wearing both his jewelry and his trauma. “I Hope These Gems Stay With You” has several lyrical gems, there’s no denying that. While Trust is a good producer, the use of similar sounding samples can get monotone. Nonetheless, the sound of “I Hope These Gems Stay With You” warrants more than just a few listens.