Review by Tim MartinMost young rappers I sample feature clichés draped over Garageband loops. Jmark doesn’t. It’s budding talent that doesn’t just remodel or remold old news. In Somewhere Towards Home, I hear Hamilton-roots connecting via 403 to Shad K, with some overt nods at Kanye. But Jmark is a young guy working to cultivate something fresh with the production skills of fellow Hamiltonian, Brett Klassen.
Diagnosed with dyslexia, with “a head start seeing back-words,” he grammatically and ideologically dispenses counter-culture like a farmer’s market. In a genre coloured by competition, he asks “ambition to ease,” and comments on “Def before Kweli.” Rooting himself in Christian tradition, Jmark echoes the biblical rhetoric coming from Shad, and many of the Bahá’í rappers out of Seattle (See Common Market; RA Scion and Sabzi). It is honest and sincere, and unconcerned with bravado.
This release last week obviously coincides with Shad’s Flying Colours. It’s like the listener now has a “little brother” to vibe on in the same week. And despite issues in the mix, and performative flaws like in most freshman albums, this boy is searing hot with potential, and I excitedly await future developments emerging across the escarpment.
