Jai Swift-Thou​ghts of an Agile Hustler Mixtape Review

by Dan-O

I’m a sucker for muted street talk delivered confidently and nonchalantly especially in the current hip hop climate of yelling, singing, and out of control ad-libs. It seems like everyone is trying so hard to stake out a quadrant of their own on the hip hop map and any grunt or slur that can make an artist unique is thousands of dollars of difference. That’s what makes Jai Swift and company so interesting on his new mixtape Thoughts of an Agile Hustler.

Tracks certainly do contain yelling, courtesy of DJ Big Boi(who eats the first 30 seconds of most tracks), starting right from the first verse of the introduction(Agile Thoughts) the tempo is established by Jai “I be where the weed at just chilling with my feet back higher than a cloud…” It sets the table casually with a laid back hazy mix of relaxing with weed, plotting on cash, and reflecting.

I don’t know that you’ll be rewinding to catch mind blowing lines; this is more of a conversation that takes place over 9 tracks and leaves you wanting more. Mixtapes have different goals and this one is a business card to people like me who had never heard of Jai Swift before. Even though it has as many guest stars as tracks(featuring-Meezy Montana,Tongue Da Mac, Yung Lee, K-Loc, Ad Kapone, Dee Star, Young Koo, Justo, Doojie) you never lose track of Jai Swift. His narrative whisper is something you just have to listen too. Each beat seems to build out of a central element like the gentle horn on Oz(Onions), perfectly place flute on the group track 100.

Thoughts of an Agile Hustler is totally gratifying California anti-ratchet with a fitting cover. Jai is in a white shirt and backwards hat leaning on his car, no helicopters or girls in bikini’s, not because that’s not a part of his life but because he doesn’t have to prove anything to us. The music is enough.

My favorite track is So High, a real zoned out weed song that’s the glue for a low key tape like this. I also have a weakness for weed dedications going back to Cypress Hill. When they are done right they sit in a sort of infinite listen-ability region of your brain. This one absolutely does because of a hypnotic beat and Friday soundtrack worthy chorus.

I wish I could give you more, harrowing stories of his youth or his progression over the past few years but I’m starting from square one on Jai and that’s the goal of a mixtape like this. It puts a name in your head and keeps it there so when he drops his next project…you know to download it. I hope it does that for you, don’t anticipate throwback hip hop or bold revolutionary hip hop this is the timeless straight forward kind that ghetto kids beat out on lunch tables at recess. It’s a reason to be thankful for sites like Thizzler and the internet for breaking down regional limitations and making stuff like this accessible.

Download Thoughts of an Agile Hustler below:

http://www.thizzler.com/blog/2013/2/23/jai-swift-thoughts-of-an-agile-hustler-free-download.html