If you have to ask yourself why JELEEL! has become one of the most notorious artists in the current generation of music, then you’re already far behind the curve. While I have admittedly never really gotten the right opportunity to listen to the rapidly growing phenom, I already knew I would like him based on his sheer energy and personality, but those are some of the first things people claim to notice about the exuberant emcee. I mean, I haven’t even seen him live and in person yet, but based on videos I’ve seen, I can say that he is one of the best performers you’ll see, and even with my novice experience of his music, he is on my bucket list of shows to attend without a doubt.
If you haven’t seen videos of his performances, then look them up and you’ll see why I say this, but I knew it was about time to finally tune in and catch up on everything I’ve missed once I saw that he teamed up with Denzel Curry to bring their brand-new song “SHOTS!” to life. The Rhode Island emcee even produced this jam with some help from FNZ, using an entirely vibrant foundation that one might think would be impossible to level up with any more vigor, but JELEEL! seems to exceed these levels in his sleep, and Denzel is no stranger to vitality either.
Throughout the entire record, the rapper brings the heat for a hook and verse that you should listen to as soon as you wake up in the morning because it would honestly get your blood pumping and your energy up way more than an entire pot of coffee ever could. Denzel acts as the level-headed lyricist in this one, which is usually not the case, but even with some slightly subdued bars when compared to his counterpart on the record, he is in no way, shape, or form a party pooper for even a second.
When asked about this song, JELEEL! mentioned:
“’SHOTS!’ is such an important song to me because I feel like it’s an elevated version of a lot of my harder and aggressive type songs, and obviously Denzel just made it that much more special… We were jumping on couches having so much fun making this in the studio. We are such a great combo on the track, and I’m just super proud of this record.”
After witnessing even just one of JELEEL!’s songs, it’s hard to imagine an elevated version of his sound in general. Still, he is absolutely correct in his explanation because this song really does feel like such a larger entity than anything I’ve heard in the recent past. JELEEL! is already a natural star, but he is only getting started, so make sure you catch up with his latest single “SHOTS!” alongside the always phenomenal Denzel Curry.