Bulletin Board Archive

Topic: Review "Just John" artist :Johnny Quest

1. Oct 4, 2005 10:28pm by NRG - livin the art that is life ! www.64111clinic.com fam www.nrginmotion.com massage www.myspace.com/nrginmotion world community Location: havenhouse KCK/ 64111 Clinic 4 Life
   Review; Johnny Quest, "Just John" By Richard Gintowt (Contact) for lawrence.com Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Johnny Quest has been a consistent contributor to the Lawrence hip-hop scene for nearly a decade, bringing his old-school lyricism to MC battles, Wax Clashes and local hip-hop shows. "Just John" is Quest's most proper release to date, elevating his game to a level higher than the scattered mixed tapes and CDRs he's handed out to friends. He produced the album by himself with the exception of three tracks credited to MacLethal, Nezbeat and Miles Bonny. Guest rappers on the album include Joe Good of SoundsGood, Taha and I.D. of Archetype. Quest extols the virtues of drinking, smoking and tagging on 13 polished tracks. His clear and focused delivery highlights humorous tracks like "Out Here": "I'm from the heartland, where we smoke cowboy killaz / And do drive-bys in 18 wheelers / I live right down the street from my Dillions / Let me know if it sounds familiar." Quest's style isn't particularly innovative but it's authentic, schooled in years of allegiance to hip-hop culture and obvious passion for the art form. "Just John" expresses his intentions succinctly: "It's just John / It's all me / There's nothing more I ever wanted to be / Make beats, DJ and MC / And have a whole crowd of people screaming for me." Whether you're front row or at the bar, "Just John" presents a thick slab of heart-on-a-plate hip-hop. Serve it while it's hot.
2. Apr 2, 2006 06:44am by TheRevGetDown Location: Austin
   This album is very good and I’m not saying that just because Quesy is family. People are going to slowly discover that this is perhaps the best and most consistent album to come out of the Lawrence/KC scene yet. I have the unique perspective of having seen this project evolve over the years. Quest took forever and a day to complete this album but it is much the better for it. Almost two years ago JQ gave me a copy of what was to be “Just John”. It was good but not great – it sounded unpolished and very much like a local hip hop release. As it turns out only a few of those tracks made the final cut. The newly released “Just John” album is a completely new and much improved body of work. It’s obvious after one listen that Quest spent lots of time in the lab polishing this album. SoundsGood raised the bar of quality control for local hip hop with the release of “Biscuits & Gravy” and Quest has followed suit with an album that is on par with national releases in terms of production, artwork and sound quality. Johnny Quest is an emcee easily appreciated by true heads – bangin’ hip hop straight with no chaser. The album may be well polished but it still has plenty of grime and grit. Quesy is the type of emcee that’ll grab his dick and spit on stage… at a benefit concert for Sudan…attended exclusively by emo kids and indie rockers. This took place at Liberty Hall which incidentally is where, in a classic Quesy moment, he drunkenly played host to a DJ battle and verbally abused many of the events participants and organizers. This tangent is not meant to embarrass or criticize. It is merely to illustrate that Johnny Quest is an emcee that doesn’t give a shit if he offends or frightens off college town hip hop fans whose idea of golden age hip hop is the second Jurassic 5 album. I personally find this to be totally refreshing. “Just John” can be summed up by banging beats, great production and gritty rhymes. If you want a more detailed review simply read on: Track 1 - Out Here: You gotta start off any album with heat and Quest does just that. This track is one of the best on the album – slow, dark and gritty but melodic thanks to some nice horn work courtesy of Miles Bonny. On Out Here JQ introduces the heartland to outsiders and gives props to the Midwest - “Out here it’s wide sky and the great plains/ Everyday it’s a struggle but we maintain.” JQuotable: “See me with my eyes slanted as I paint the canvas/ From the state of Kansas to the east and west coast/ You wanna get to know me all you do is listen close” Track 2 - Illustrated Man: This is where the party starts as JQ instructs “Now that you got it turn the volume up and listen/ I know you’ve been waitin’ yeah it’s been a hot minute/ I know you were thinkin’ I would never get it finished/ Before it was personal now it’s all business.” The bangin’ up-tempo beat is complemented by a patchwork chorus reminiscent of DJ Premier and features a vocal sample from Common. Track 3 - Justice: Another head-nodder, “This is for all of my people who need justice/ Bangin’ beats with a little bit of substance/ Put some life in your stereo box/ Go on and bump this/ If you feel the revolution is near/ Raise up and pump fists.” JQuotable: “This recipe can’t be found in no book/ Its’ been crafted for 10 years inside my notebooks” Track 4 - Blind: Things slow down here as this beat creeps and crawls out of the speakers. The dark beat serves as a backdrop for some of the grimiest rhymes on the album as Quest raps about drinking, fighting and fucking. It might be easy to overlook this song as it is sandwiched between two more slick up-tempo tracks, but don’t sleep. This song is oozing with some great lines. JQuotable: “I can’t out drink The Guild but I can out smoke the Ces/ Never miss a chance to build workin’ with the best” Track 5 - Catfish: The official hoo-banger of the album. This track is jumping! Joe Good and Approach join in on the fun and absolutely murder this one. The chorus gets the tag-team treatment as the three rap, “Get up get down/ Don’t lounge or fuck around/ Professin this sound/ J Quest from L-town/ Young Joe from M-O [Proli from KC]/ We pro-fessional/ On any scene/ Mainstream to underground.” Track 6 - Down Syndrome: This is another slow track of straight ahead beats and rhymes. The thing that makes this track remarkable is a beautiful, breezy female vocal on the chorus singing “It’s here it’s there/ It’s all around/ It’s in the air it’s in the ground/ If you feel it move to the sound/ Whatever comes up must go down.” The voice – belonging to a San Francisco friend of Quest - is strange and gorgeous and totally unique. It sounds as if Tinkerbell got really high and decided to be a bossa nova soul singer. JQuotable: “Peace to Scratchrat, Approach, Nez and I-Zac/ Los, Miles, Joe and Mac/ For never holdin’ back/ and fillin’ holes and gaps like a molded plastic cast” Track 7 - Control Freak: A personal, raw and emotional song in which JQ muses about when relationships get complicated. Quest tries his hand at singing on the hook which reminds me a bit of the songs where Eminem sings his own choruses – it never sounds that pretty to me but it’s very effective in expressing the emotion and mood of the song. JQuotable: “You asleep on the bed I’m wide awake on the floor/ Thinkin’ I should pack my shit and just head for the door” Track 8 - Just John: A revealing and introspective track on which Johnny Quest steps aside in order to give us a personal glimpse of just John. “It’s just John, it’s all me/ There’s nothing more I ever wanted to be/ Make beats, DJ and emcee/ and have a whole crowd of people screaming for me” JQuotable: “I wanna saturate your vision with a color wash of rhythm/ If I come across as distant it’s cause I had a parent missin’ and I never cared to listen” Track 9 - Will Rap 4 Sex: If you’ve ever been to a Quest show you’ve inevitably seen him rapping while holding a cardboard sign reading “Will Rap 4 Sex”. It’s classic Quesy – somewhat lewd but nonetheless extremely clever and catchy. This is sex rap with a sense of humor. JQuotable: “When it’s last call it’s down to slim pickings/ But when it’s last call I’m like really what’s the difference?/ We shared two drinks and barely one sentence/ Now I’m takin’ off her clothes like unwrappin’ presents/ Girl you’d be amazed what I can do in two minutes/ You just gettin’ started and I’m already finished.” Track 10 - 9 to 5: Wow! Taha of the legendary Bassment Chemists blesses this track with the best verse I’ve heard in recent memory on any release local, national or otherwise. Take this verse as a tutorial on how to ride the beat. If you’re hungry for substance this track has enough to fill your belly for days. JQuotable: “I’m glad I never got that major label deal I shot for/ Probably have a diamond sprinkled platinum helicopter/ Nothing to show for in a spiritual sense/ Off a building cause it got too intense/ Anyways I’m just thankful to have some good friends and a crib/ Enough food to keep these extra inches on my ribs/ See me and just John we happened to just bond/ and he provided the track that you hearing me bust on” – Taha Track 11- Starlight: JQ deftly plays the griot as he tells the story of an underage girl forced to sell her body on the street. This is the most somber and serious track on the album. The fact that this appears on the same album as “Will Rap 4 Sex” is a testament to JQ’s versatility and writing ability. JQoutable: “No protection from the cold wind 2 in the mornin’/ but the search for the first hit kept her going/ every time she would shoot she would up the dosage/ slept wherever she could lived for the moment/ I’ve never seen the stars is what she told me/ that’s why me and the sky are just as lonely/ even though they never shared the same language to speak/ the sky droppin’ rain was like the tears on the sheet” Track 12 - Let It Go: This is one of my very favorite tracks on the album. Try to listen and not nod your head…impossible. The beat is heavy and driven by a funky blues guitar riff. It reminds me a bit of “All Night Long”, my favorite track from Mac Lethal’s Love Potion Collection. The intro contains a brilliant sample from Fear of a Black Hat, the funniest movie ever made about hip hop (FYM – Fuck y’all mafuckas!). This is Quest at his best – just rippin’ gritty raps over bangin’ beats! JQuotable: “Stepped out the shadows so you can see the effort/ I’m just gettin’ started you ain’t even seen my best work” Track 13 - Myths: Great track featuring the mighty ID of Archetype. The song makes me anxious to hear the new Archetype album as ID sings the hook in his familiar subdued melodic style: “Wondering how you’re gonna get out from under it/ Don’t run from it/ They say when you’re down you can never get back up again/ That’s just a myth.” A nice track to close out such a solid album. JQuotable: “They ask me what you gonna do with the rest of your life/ My only response is try to live right/ Whether I’m pushing a broom or rockin’ a mic/ I stay consumed in tune as I follow the light”