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about
After releasing their first project, “The Alchemy EP” in January, emcee JSWISS and Grammy Award winning producer/trumpeter Michael Leonhart are back with the brand new single “The Chase” featuring celebrated trumpeter Keyon Harrold.
The three previously connected live for a performance with the Michael Leonhart Orchestra in 2019 at Jazz Standard in NYC, which was recorded as part of NPR’s “Toast of the Nation” New Year’s Eve broadcast. It was that particular performance that led to this stellar collaboration, and JSWISS’ regular appearance with the orchestra that led to him and Leonhart teaming up to form their lauded producer-emcee duo. Anchored by Leonhart’s piano-driven dynamic production, “The Chase” provides the perfect bed for JSWISS to flex his trademark lyricism, and Harrold to weave in his dexterous skills on trumpet, à la his appearance with another New York based emcee, Nas, on “Jarreau of Rap”.
“The Chase” is the first sample from JSWISS’ & Leonhart’s debut full length album, set to drop in 2022.
lyrics
Live from 2-1-2 still rep the 9-1-4
Shoot I don’t pay dues no more I collect...
Sallie Mae flow,
You don’t get schooled until I say so this is what you paid for
Live from whatever city I’m in at the moment
Run it like it’s 1936 I’m Jesse Owens
Cowards stand next and salute they ain’t shaking my hand but I ain’t giving a damn I’m bout go in
Gold medal pedigree a future version of myself the only one who got even a half step ahead of me,
Some focus too much on their enemies
That’s why they circle got a hole like the letter C,
That’s why I roll with a sick tight clique I call fam,
We go all out, keep it genuine what we all bout
Less followers and more clout...
That’s when your reputation speaks you ain’t gotta say a thing
Sometimes I bring the love sometimes I bring the pain let em hang,
Gentlemen talk this from the throne
Bet your life against my skills won’t make it home
Lead from the back of the pack a novelist who just happen to rap
Whose greatness is an actual fact
Undebatable comfortable at a level seen unattainable
Ain’t it true I ain’t come with the basic package it’s pay per view
(Chorus)
Caught between a rock and hard place
Mind race faster than a car chase
I never fall like some Dominoes so unconscious I’m comatose
Kind soul but when you this nice you earn a lotta foes
Classmates like ain’t that dude from the honor roll
Indeed had to master vocabulary and now it shows,
Went from triple A and made major league
I’m just what I claim to be I’m just what they aim to be
Shots don’t hit when your chambers got vacancies
While I’m making a life some live make believe...
Don’t get me wrong I got the vision
Reverse engineering before I do it it’s written
Book of genesis I had the light since the beginning
Had to fight it just to get in I won’t die before I’m finished,
Stay in tip top shape and drink agua
Honor my mother and my father if it don’t serve me I won’t even bother
Respect women I don’t need a daughter
Love my brother on the beat it’s slaughter
It’s out the park don’t make me take it,
To a level like Tigger in the basement
While cats clamor just to get adjacent
The nicest rapper of a generation
Bringing more fire than the South post emancipation,
I had to take it there, too much ammunition I ain’t playing fair
If you in the line of fire hope you had great career,
Just stay low and keep firing
Me and Michael speeding past the red and blue sirens
(Chorus)
Caught between a rock and hard place
Mind race faster than a car chase
credits
released September 30, 2021
Produced and mixed by Michael Leonhart.
Lyrics written and performed by JSWISS.
Trumpet by Keyon Harrold.
Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, producer, and orchestra leader Michael Leonhart, and versatile rapper JSWISS make for a
dynamic pairing.
The union formed after a spark of creative chemistry during a monthly residency at NYC venue Jazz Standard, during which JSWISS guested with the Michael Leonhart Orchestra for performances broadcast on NPR & WBGO....more
