Redemption. A clean slate. Do over. Salvation. No matter what term you use, the second chance provided to believers in Christ once they are born again is unparalleled. Once the unregenerate is renewed and remade in Christ, there is a joy and zeal that overtakes the soul that has been saved. Jae-L takes a moment to express his gratefulness for grace on his project entitled 2nd Chance. We’ll take a listen to his testimony and find out just how he’s taking advantage of this new opportunity.

I can honestly I like the intro to this project, as Jae-L deals with several voices trying to attack his faith and devotion to Jesus. Quoting a few scriptures, Jae gets focused and proceeds to state exactly where his hope is on “Second Chance”, a decent title track. One critique is that the verses and hook come off too monotone, cutting the replay value down. I will give him credit for the energy he displayed on “New Breed of Christian”, including a nice switch up to a double time flow. This track features Ack and Famous, two artists I definitely will have to keep an ear out based on their verses here.

The project continues with the standout, “Take Me Away”, combining J. Carter’s vocal performance and Jae’s worship-centered lyrics. Gears are switched again as Jae gets back into the trap/ hood mode for the next few tracks, including “Martyr Me”, featuring Armond. Listening to this song, the hook is executed much better and Jae definitely stepped up to handle the task of sharing the track with a sharp emcee like Armond. It also shows where he can grow and continue to turn his potential into “performance”, if you will.

“Lord My Life Is Yours”, is a welcome addition to this playlist as Jae shows us his spoken word abilities. The placement of this spoken word was strategic, as it allows us to refocus as Jae prepares to encourage a friend on “Real Conversations”. Well written, well produced, well delivered, this song is definitely worth a good listen or few. As a result of “Till I Fall”, I again have to show love to Ack and J. Carter, two cats who obviously mesh well with Jae. Carter is very strong with the hooks and should be showing up on more folks’ projects, if they know what’s good. Ack is not the formidable Ackdavis, but they would probably “ack” out on a track together (sorry for that). “Hold Me Down” is a fitting “wind down” song, wirh Jae showing he has the ability to carry a note or two.

Overall, I can say I am fairly impressed by this project from Jae-L and look forward to his continued growth as an artist. His creativity as an artist has plenty of growth potential but the main thing I like is the fact that you can’t compare him to any one rapper. Lyrically, Jae doesn’t really have many lines that stick in your brain, but he doesn’t waste any lines at the same time. It’s evident that Jae has a heart for those who need to hear the Gospel and is transparent with his testimony. From a beat selection/ production standpoint, Jae showed his love for the trap style and sprinkled in some other styles to maintain a level of diversity. Whether the trap sound fits his delivery 100 is debatable, but none of the tracks overtook him. His next release will have to feature a better mixing quality to help him out, but all things considered it was decent for a mixtape-type of release. Jae-L is definitely a young talent with a heart for the Lord that I will keep an eye out for.

Categorical Ratings Breakdown:

Originality/Creativity: 3/5
Lyrics: 3/5
Delivery: 3.5/5
Beat Selection/Production: 3/5
Concept/Arrangement: 3.5/5

http://jae-l.bandcamp.com/