You know the term ‘Leaders of the New School?’ I truly think Jaden Smith is one of them! You can tell dude has no boundaries when it comes to his creativity, which I actually think can be emulated by a lot of up and coming brats that look to get their feet wet in Hip Hop. Well every leader needs their manual, so consider ‘Syre’ just that.

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TOP 5

 

5. ‘L’ ‘U’

Bars after Bars is spit on this song, as Jaden discusses some of the worrisome things that’s happening in his life. It’s lots of raw emotions that you get from him, as he raps like a 40 year old dude that lost it all….(Mind you, he is only 19.)

The song starts off with this simple instrumental, but eventually manifests itself into this Broadway sounding masterpiece. I’m not going to lie, I’m engulfed in it; are you?

I combined the two songs on this review because ‘L’ ends 1 minute into ‘U’. I know, it’s more confusing than a sobriety test.

 

4. FALCON

‘Falcon’ has a little bit of everything: Tough ass bars, lots of energy, and baby Andre 3000!

Say what you want about Jaden Smith, but he sure does have great presence on whatever song he’s on. Jaden spits like his words are the new gospel, and I’m sure that’s the reason the Bella Thorne’s of the world love him. With the Hollywood-raised rapper instilling his artistic values whenever the beat asks for it, the end result is usually a wild song like this that has no boundaries or genres.

Who’s more Andre 3000: Raury or Amine? While ya’ll debate that, I’m bout to watch these Spurs vs. Mavericks highlights.

I listened to this song over three times, and I still can’t comprehend what I just heard…. When it comes to music, that indicates either greatness or heavy drug usage!

 

3. BREAKFAST

If you listened to the album from start to finish, you would know what I mean when I say that ‘Syre’ starts here.

For all the Rocky fans, unfortunately, you don’t get a verse from him. I will say this though: Jaden drops some pretty tough bars on this track, as he lets A$AP gas him up throughout. All in all, the song feels like the musical version of a trainer trying to hype up his underdog boxer.

Competition should be afraid right now! Not only does he have bars, but he’s a helluva a karate fighter too.

 

2. B

Talk about opening up an album…. WOW!

Majority of this song is sung by a singer that I am guessing is either Willow Smith or Justin Bieber. She (or He) kills it, taking advantage of the chilling instrumental perfectly.

Jaden hops on the track around 2:10, and he drops a pretty aggressive verse. It’s the perfect way to show people that he ain’t playing with n—as on this album, despite the fact that he is the son of the dude that played in Wild, Wild West.

Did Jaden just curse? What will Carlton and the rest of the banks think about this, Mister?

 

1. ICON

Icon’ is rap greatness! At this very moment, Jaden Smith became a man.

Jaden Smith is far from an icon, but the way he drops these heavy hitting bars over this triumphant beat, he at least filled out the job application to be one.

Out of all the sounds you get from the young kid on this album, this competitive side might just be my favorite.

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SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. B (5/5)

2. L (4.5/5)

3. U (4/5)

4. E (4/5)

5. BREAKFAST (5/5)

6. HOPE (3.9/5)

7. FALCON (4.5/5)

8. NINETY (5/5)

9. LOST BOY (4/5)

10. BATMAN (4.7/5)

11. ICON (5/5)

12. WATCH ME (4/5)

13. FALLEN (4.7/5)

14. THE PASSION (3.9/5)

15. GEORGE JEFF (4/5)

16. RAPPER (4/5)

17. SYRE (N/A)

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OVERALL RATING

(8.5/10)

 

‘Syre’ is an emotional roller coaster: It’s disturbing, it’s weird, it’s joyful, and it’s hella creative! In a nutshell, it symbolizes the sporadic mind of a teenage kid that I could never relate to.

The production on this album is amazing! I feel like each song does a good job of combining the sounds of ‘regular people’ Hip Hop with ‘weirdo people’ Hip Hop. Both sides never get left out, but they do go through a mini tug of war at times. Jaden approaches each beat exactly how I would want him to — Viciously! While at times he does sound like he’s trying a little too hard to impress us with his raps, I can’t knock his ears for music, especially when you talk about the intangibles that go into making it. I can tell he ain’t no rookie to this, which probably convinces me that he ghost wrote the Men In Black theme song for his father at the tender age of -1.

Maybe this album will make more sense to me in a couple years, but for now, I will appreciate it for its uniqueness. You can tell this is only the beginning for Young Smith in this industry, as he clearly looks to take the hip hop genre to another level. Kudos to him for aiming high, especially considering that his father made pretty simple rap music in his heyday.