Song Review: Jay Electronica “Voodoo Man”

Voodoo Man. Civilize the savage. Criticize the parish.

Voodoo Man begins with an eerie melody, rising and falling with great emotion, preparing you for something great. For one minute and nine seconds, you hear the sounds of the wilderness or a jungle, and children speaking to each other in another language. The trance-inspiring melody loops around once again and the voice of Electronica rings out:

 

Voodoo Man.

Chicken bone Chicken bone, I can make a thunderstorm from a light rain.

 

Already I knew this would incur a multitude of playbacks. Electronica begins to delve into an intricate supernatural story of the background behind his being of the chosen one, whether it be in music, or in life is up for interpretation.

Apparantly he has had direct communication with Christ, as it takes over his whole body when it happens and puts him in “submission.” He awakes in front of a mic-stand with new purpose, to spread doctrine

 

Side Note: Jay is a part of the Nation of Islam, as shown by the sample at the beginning of the next song from a speech by the Honarable Elijah Mohammed. However, in interviews and songs such as these, Jay praises Christ and also calls himself a Christian.

 

Each verse is split by a loop of the powerful entrancing violin melody. The second verse is where things begin to take shape and really begin to intrigue you. He talks of his possession of the blueprints for “disc-shaped-like vessel that was chiseled out of metal off the coast of Japan.” Personally, I thought this was about aliens or the awareness of the supernatural, websites and blogs have claimed that this “vessel” is a metaphor for a CD, and goes along with the idea that his purpose is to spread the truth through his amazing ability to speak through music.

 

I’m sorta like a Postman, you can get the message if you wanna understand

 

Jay continues his lyrical masterpiece by going into his purpose here on earth. He is to “criticize the parish for spreading false doctrine” and “terrorize the cleric for carrying on nonsense.” This is a social commentary on how Jay, along with many others, believe the institutions of religion and faith have failed to stick to their true values, and have strayed away from the teachings of those who the faith is based. Deep stuff.

 

Through all the paranormal, supernatural, utterly mind-blowing deep rhymes, Jay never forgets to throw a shot in at today’s rappers, and belittling their art.

 

Mm. Chew em up spittin out rappers.

Sippin Pellegrino while I’m handin out matches.

Set yourself on fire.

Yet the word placement, as always, is spotless. He calls the modern-day coke rapper’s bluff

 

Saying you sell crack,

Clapping at cats with macs

But you’re a liar. Pants on fire.

 

Once again, pure genius

 

About my tenth time listening to “Voodoo Man” I discovered the eeriest, yet most enchanting thing about the whole song. At 1 minute and 9 seconds, the last words of the children’s’ dialologue (which I would find out later is from an Iraqi movie called “Turtles Can Fly”) you hear the older boy speak a word that sounds creepily like “ELECTRONICA!” This is surely up for debate, but only the listener can decide- maybe I am hearing what I’d like to hear.

 

“Voodoo Man” Rating: 5