If you have read some of my other articles, you already know I have a deep devotion to West Coast Hip-Hop music. I just love the sliding synths, hard-nosed attitudes that shine through, and all the different personalities that can make this type of music great. Blueface has obviously become a household name on that side of the country, and although 1TakeJay has been rapidly climbing up the ranks, I still think he deserves a lot more respect and recognition than he receives.
As for their most recent collaboration, the two talents team up for a remix of “Proud of U”, a song Jay originally dropped earlier this year. Low the great, a frequent collaborator of West Coast artists, utilizes alternating keys and synths, some staticky percussive sounds, and absolutely pounding 808s to add some extremely interesting vibes and an even more hasty tempo that both of these artists know exactly what they need to do with. On the chorus, Jay takes over and utilizes a slightly aggressive yet notably enthusiastic approach to deliver his lyrics. As he gets into his verse, he uses a similar cadence that provides a seamless continuation from one part to another before switching things up slightly and changing to a more stop and go flow that couples with the instrumental perfectly once again.
After another hook, Blueface enters the scene and he uses a fairly controlled, subdued delivery that is a bit uncharacteristic of the normally wild, assertive rapper, but I enjoyed it regardless. He just bounces incredibly over this beat and although his flow never really changes too drastically, it works and never grows old so there’s really no reason to change things up throughout his somewhat quick verse. When it comes to the narratives within the song, both rappers take turns bragging about some of their more unique luxuries, women, trying to remain humble in the face of all their wealth, and more, but the main point of this song seems to just be to get you up and moving because it’s virtually impossible to not want to dance to a track like this.
There’s also an exciting music video that comes along with this remix, and the duo uses some very intriguing settings. It opens up in a classroom where Blueface seems to be the cool kid and Jay comes off as being a bit of a nerd for some reason. Blueface is throwing paper balls at Jay which understandably annoys him, but as the teacher calls Blueface out, he stands up and tells her off, making fun of the fact that she doesn’t even own any Prada. As the song starts up, the classroom turns into a sort of daytime club considering everyone gets up and dances. The girls in class end up forming a lane for Blueface to Crip walk and dance down and Jay to get out of his shell, proving he’s not a geek like he appeared to be at the start. Another main setting takes us to a school bus that is even rowdier than the classroom. The rappers recite their lines and vibe out with the rest of the passengers that just happen to be beautiful women who dance along to the song and get a little risqué with some of their moves. Some later scenes even show everyone hanging out of the bus windows, showing how this group simply can’t be contained. One other somewhat notable scene just shows Jay inside of an empty warehouse that seems to be filled with some smoke as different colored lights illuminate the background, but this setting is only shown briefly throughout.
I’m not sure that I’ve heard a single 1TakeJay song that I haven’t liked, and this track just continues that streak. The enthusiasm and personality that shines through in every single one of his verses are just infectious and it makes you want to get up and move. Although some of his lyrics can be almost too raunchy at times, I find some of the wordplays he uses to be beyond entertaining and even funny on occasion. Blueface brought new energy to this track that definitely helped elevate it, and his presence in the music video was significantly felt as well. I loved the scene that they started the visual out with and watching the rest of the chaos ensue was definitely amusing to watch also. Once again, I definitely think 1TakeJay deserves even more recognition than he already receives and the new remix to his song “Proud of U” featuring Blueface proves my point, so be sure to give it a spin.