#justoriginal

Versatility — it’s aspirational for most of us. Riding the line between creative and chameleon, unique and unreliable, isn’t easy for many. Especially when you’re running the rat race, sucking up junk food and trying to make rent—it ain’t easy being an innovator when you’re just trying to make it to Friday. 

But Joao Amos (Just Original), the young rapper behind a new mixtape, titled ‘Versatile,’ claims to be all that — young, angsty and just as original as his namesake.

Yeah, he feels you on that 9-5 and understands the struggle of trying to get a little higher — and he claims he is what so many rappers don’t have the heart to be — versatile.

J.O. isn’t saying he’s the ‘greatest alive’ or the ‘hottest out.’ He’s tossing out the unrealistic, subjective, cocky titles and it suits him.

Just Original simply claims to be versatile and after listening to his 12 tracks, we’ve got to give it to him — that’s not just an aspiration. J.O. is imaginative, avante-garde, creative.

He’s got a chopped, screwed, southernism—hailing from Louisiana. But then there’s powerful poetry, whimsical and thought-provoking.

And those slow, conscious-hip-hop beats— those beats you listen to as you’re riding down the highway with half a tank of gas and nowhere to go.

And finally, J.O. has the twinklings of those hip-hop sensibilities that we all love from modern music classics like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Erika...

Plus there’s this New Orleans jazz — as intricate, subtle and deeply rooted as the fleur de lis on J.O.’s hat.

   Here’s the short list, before you listen for yourself:

   2. ‘Midnight Moves’: Reminds me of one of my all-time favorite songs, ‘The Questions’ by Black Star.

“If it’s the same shit, try not to step in it."

“Make the handicapped feeling more able and willin’/ I left Fresh Prince in the residence of Master William/ This prince left where the air more fresher/ Bigger breath so I breathe on the beat better

   3. ‘Burnt’: Slow groove, something to think to.

“Even in my dreams I feel tired/ can’t get on the plain of consciousness, my visa is expired.”

8. ‘Run It’: Old School beat, upbeat flow. 

“I’m the better man, you are out of the element.”

  10. ‘Shoulders’: There’s a saxophone on this song. That is all.