Jay Electronica is one of the most gifted rhymers to ever pick up a pen. That shouldn’t be news to anyone who has paid attention to hip-hop over the last twenty or so years, but Jay Elect is also one of rap’s most elusive and mysterious personas.
In addition to several of his most acclaimed tracks finally hitting streaming, Jay’s re-released 2020’s Act II: Patents of Nobility — and in the days since, he’s dropped three EP-length projects, as chapters of A Written Testimony. The projects feature guests like DRAM, Westside Gunn and Quentin Miller.
And with his recent flurry of activity, the spitter out of New Orleans has thrown down the creative and lyrical gauntlet. We picked 10 standout lyrical performances across those releases.
10. Anybody Else Know How to Work Ruby Slippers?????????????????? (A Written Testimony: Mars, The Inhabited Planet)
“This ain't nothing, you should have seen my last act
I rode a one-way Greyhound ticket to thе king of the NASDAQ
I blew in therе like Dorothy from the blizzard for the greener the grass at
A fairy in a bubble gave me a tiny little heart
Just beneath my tin skin where it was heaps of trash at”
Jay Elect’s brotherhood with the rap game’s most accomplished capitalist has always been an interesting bond, and here he expertly nods at Hov’s ambitions and how it unlocked doors for the NOLA rapper.
9. “Is It Possible That the Honorable Elijah Mohammed Is Still Physically Alive???” (A Written Testimony: Leaflets)
“In the daylight, she be feeling tall and invincible
But at night she in somebody section – small and convincible
Another fallen star to crash another crater
So why you had to ask me if we actually need a savior?”
While examining the pain we often carry as we try to put forth a positive front, Jay reflects on a woman who seems to have all the confidence in the world but struggles with her sense of self.
8. “Four Billion, Four Hundred Million (4,400,000,000) / The Worst Is Yet To Come” (A Written Testimony: Leaflets)
“We can die together
Keep my eye open for fake friends who'll tell you about Metanet
And how fast you can get this cheddar
But behind your back, doing you like Chris Webber”
Who doesn’t love a good classic NBA reference? Jay Elect is making it clear that he peeps the fakes trying to ease into his circle, and drops an allusion to Chris Webber’s famous behind-the-back dunk on Charles Barkley, for good measure.
7. “Japan Airline, 1628” (A Written Testimony: Leaflets)
”You feel it in your icy veins, it's a cold world
Another day, another brick to the face like old girl
You got to learn to take it in stride and let your light shine
You get what you strive for, in this transitory lifetime
The Devil ruled for thousands of years, now it's the Christ time”
One of Jay Elect’s strengths has always been his spirituality and here he warns against believing the hype and offers that faith is the greatest weapon against lies. While tossing in a reference to one of 2023’s most controversial viral videos.
6. Blood Libel. Who’s That Lying On God? (A Written Testimony: Power At the Rate of My Dreams)
“Satan tricks don’t work no more
We done hurt so much, the shit don’t even hurt no more
Niggas don’t go to the Masjid or the church no more
We don’t even put our deceased in the dirt no more”
Is it strength or are we being desensitized? Becoming numb to pain doesn’t mean you’re healing. Another perfect example of Jay’s religiosity in rhyme. While making it clear where he stands morally, he also pronounces that evil is on the losing end and it always will be.
5. “Letter To Mars” (A Written Testimony: Mars, The Inhabited Planet)
“I emerged from the darkness, like Jesus out of the tomb
My skin clothed in sin, like Jesus out of the womb
It took years, months, and days for this wildflower to bloom
My cocoon was a mix of light and dark like either side of the moon”
He pulls off the Christ parallel. Sometimes the wordplay is just undeniable. It’s an allusion to Christ that’s pretty on-the-nose but that doesn’t mean it isn’t creative and clever. Jay Elect does these kinds of bars better than most.
4. “Ashes To Ashes” (A Written Testimony: Power At the Rate of My Dreams)
“Ashes to ashes, I took my time like molasses
With these civilization clashes I dish out to the masses
I'm like a miniature Jesus of Nazareth
Slugged up with my Solja Rag in my Reebok Classics”
Jay Elect has always rapped with a sense of purpose and he embraces the idea of being a sort of hip-hop “Chosen One.” Whether he’s your rap messiah or not, the way he strings together his lofty messianic ambitions while repping for the soldiers in his hometown is sick.
3. “Best Wishes” (A Written Testimony: Power At the Rate of My Dreams)
“Electronically speaking, ‘my dear Watson, it's elementary’
My Patents of Nobility is tribe of Shabazz gentry
Singin' the praises of Rabbil Alamin who sent me
As my lil' piano moccasins walk through the grass gently”
A patent of nobility was a document that confirmed an individual’s status as a noble, so when Jay Elect mentioned in line with the tribe of Shabazz, it was an affirmation of royal Blackness. “Rabbil Alamin” is the Lord of Lords. Add the Sherlock Holmes line and you’ve got one of the most Jay Elect bars ever.
2. “Letter To Mars” (A Written Testimony: Mars, The Inhabited Planet)
“There ain't no other click could spit their spittle next to ours
In the stone, I found the answer: earth, wind, and fire
For this project, I dropped "Electronica," we merged both the Jays
And put a "C" after the "Y," so that the "Z" stand for Czars
Ground control to Major Tom, this is a message from-mm-m Mars”
A shoutout to David Bowie and EWF, all while repping for the Roc. Jay Elect with some good ol’ fashioned chest-thumping. He’s on fire throughout the track so it was worth two mentions.
1. “Abracadabra” (2025 version) (A Written Testimony: Leaflets)
“I walk around with total disregard for the enemy
The entire trajectory of my career scream "fuck the industry"
Yet you can't have a debate about the greats and not mention me
Abracadabra, Houdini and David Blaine ain't got nothing on gang
I came in the name who made earthquakes and rain”
The 2025 version of Jay’s 2020 track, it opens A Written Testimony…Leaflets and features a distasteful (if somewhat traditional) introduction from Diddy. Soon after, Jay unleashes–letting everyone know that he’s still that dude and a magician with wordplay.
