Jay Citrus
Suck My Lemons
Self-Released
Street: 05.30
Jay Citrus = Snoop Dogg + The Underachievers

Jay Citrus isn’t exactly a visionary—his rhyming is sloppy, he gets his song titles from classic hip-hop tunes and, on at least one occasion, he straight-up jacks a beat without any attribution—“The Scenario” is Yeezy’s “Blood on the Leaves.” Nevertheless, this is one of the better local rap albums I’ve encountered. It succeeds because the beats are fresh and Citrus has an uncanny ability to kick batshit rhymes like they were handed down from God. “No half-steppin’ around me,” he warns us on “No Half-Steppin’,” but fails to give a compelling reason why we shouldn’t. At first, I wanted to half-step like a motherfucker. Then I realized that this kind of harebrained hyperbole is exactly what makes this record so fun. I’m on Team Jay, but when you use someone else’s beat, you need to give credit where credit is due—even on a mixtape. –Dan Vesper