Jawa

Lost in the Ways

Related Content

• Brian McKnight @ Celebrity Theatre
  May 12, 2011
• Top Five Concert Picks For This Weekend: Bob Log III, Method Man, Authority Zero, Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns, and Broadway Calls
  November 4, 2011
• The 10 Best Spoken Word Intros
  September 16, 2010
• Rapper Hannibal Leq Celebrates Birthday, Hype Music Deal With New F-O's Show at The Roxy
  November 18, 2011
• Splitsville
  September 16, 2010

More About

• Method Man
• Brian McKnight
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Celebrity News

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

One of the things that's great about local hip-hop artist Jawa is that he doesn't give a crap about mainstream success. He could have had it -- Priority Records had him working with artists like Brian McKnight and Method Man in the mid-'90s -- but he didn't like being told what to do, and split to stay underground. Jawa often raps about his disdain for shallow lyrics and superficial rappers, but the title track here, "Lost in the Ways," addresses the subtle suppression of America through corporate control and marketing: "It ain't a phase men are lost in the ways/Wicked and crooked, 365 days/Women and men, give me your hand/Or your soul gets stole like Indian land." The whole track is full of off-the-hook lyrical flows and a steady beat, and there are three versions on the A-side: the street, radio, and beat edits. The flip side of the record contains street and beat edits of the songs "Misery" and "Tentacles," produced by local scenesters Foundation (Drunken Immortals) and Skip Skoolnik (Vinyl Rockers). This solid single, full of funky rhythms and sociopolitical lyrics, would be good wax to work into any hip-hop DJ's collection.