J-Zone

For his fifth release, J-Zone sticks to the tried and true: he’s a high and mighty, broke-ass pimp with plenty of hilarious punch lines and the beats to back him up. In other words, nothing much has changed since J-Zone debuted his Old Maid Billionaire label using his own senior project for Music at Purchase College, the now-classic Music for Tu Madre EP. J-Zone considers himself primarily a producer, but his quirky, boom-bap beats on A Job Ain’t Nuthin’ But Work are this time just barely the highlight. There’s a lot less guest appearances than on previous J-Zone releases, but Captain Backslap holds the album down on his own. His strongest concept is a challenge to b-ball players-turned-rappers for a battle on the court ("A Friendly Game of Basketball”), but his drinking confession "Lightweight (remix),” and "Edit These,” where J-Zone reverses the profanity in the first verse and flips it for the second, are also strong contenders. And then there’s a nice peppering of paraphrasing odes to hip-hop history by biting Too Short for "Edit These,” Public Enemy for "Bullshit City,” and NWA for "Disco Ho,” Zone’s argument for being a wallflower. The few guests that do appear are welcome. Celph Titled helps open the album with his grimy punch lines on "Spoiled Rotten,” while Devin the Dude brings the Southern flavour on the poor-boy "Greater Later.” Old Maid Billionaires Al-Shid and Dick $tallion contribute a thuggish verse for "Heavy Metal” and a bit of conversation on "Disco Ho,” respectively, but Huggy Bear is still sorely missed. Now why doesn’t J-Zone get more radio play?