'Jerusalaam Come' - Juice Aleem (album review)

When it comes to original UK rap records Big Dada have got it going on. Juice Aleem and main producer Blackitude serve up an album that sits well with the record label’s back catalogue. Almost 10 years after Juice Aleem’s group New Flesh For Old dropped ‘Equilibrium’ the MC is back with ‘Jerusalaam Come’, an album that sits somewhere between Ty’s ‘Upwards’ and Roots Manuva’s ‘Slime & Reason’.

Juice sets the ball rolling with the surging ‘First Lesson’ with some double time flows before he hooks up with Cipher Jewels of MD7 and Blackitude to big up his home city Birmingham on the bashy ‘Straight Outta B.C.’. Things get philosophical and religiously influenced on ‘The Fallen (Gen 15.13) before Tomz picks up the production duties on ‘Who Is He?’.

Probable single ‘Rock My Hologram’ is produced by Si Begg, is catchily glitchy and it’s genre-bending is bound to give it appeal outside of rap circles. The album continues to shun convention with highlights for me being the heaving ‘Higher Higher’, ‘You Shut the ____ Up’ and the poppy ‘Blues Block Party’ produced by Fred Ones.

Big Dada fans aren’t going to be disappointed and Hip Hop heads who like high quality music on a different vibe are going to be pleased with this LP. It’s out now and available at all the usual places, including the Big Dada shop. The CD also includes two bonus mp3s ‘Birmingham’ and ‘Rain’.