SoulChef – Escapism is a beautiful modern jazz rap album from the 2010s era that was overlooked and under appreciated. Not too many people appreciate jazz rap these days. You have nice piano driven ballads such as When I Close My Eyes. You also xylophone driven ballads such as Oh No which is heavily influenced by that bossa nova sound. Who knew that rap from New Zealand could be jazzy? Tunji is a featured artist all over the album. This is because SoulChef has produced several songs for Tunji in the past.

When I Close My Eyes is a song about dreaming about wanting to drift away into the past.

Tunji rises with the sun in the early morning. Facing this world we born in. His mind’s swirling, storming, and working until the words be forming. People tell him that the sky is the limit. But Tunji is living for right now because he could die any minute. This life is turning the page. Learning to stay firm in your ways. Burning with rage. Learning only for the lessons. Roaming lonely through this Californian urban decay. Sometimes he wants to drift away.

Tune is grateful for the painful things that forced him to grow as a person because now he knows to head straight at that fork in the road. He learned from the best. If you love something and it’s really worth a damn, then you should always feel the passion like you first began.

Oh No is a xylophone driven jazz rap song with a nice lush percussion set. That nice lush percussion set is what makes the song so calming. Oh No was dedicated to all those people outside who can’t fucking mind their own business.

Talk is cheap. You mad weak. These people are acting like paparazzi. Saying what they saying day by day to try and stop Tunji. Smiling up in his face on his record release date. Gossip on computer screens. Always saying something that they see him chilling. Nobody be concerned with the drama. Just the karma. Now wait, look, most of y’all are too concerned with Facebook. Worry about the street instead of pictures that these snakes took.

He stays hungry like Ghandi. Kicking fat rhymes be his modus operandi. Don’t be exaggerating if you saying that you rap great. Making music that you’re feeling New York to New Zealand. Banging live beats out on the concrete jungle.

I rate this album 4/5****!!