JELEEL!
Photo by Joseph Morrison.
The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.
There’s energy, and then there’s JELEEL! The Rhode Island-born, Los Angeles-based rapper/singer has the build of a superstar wrestler and a high-pitched scream that can match any pop-punk frontman. His electrifying personality, carefree spirit, and tendency to rip off his tank top at a moment’s notice have made him go viral, but more importantly, the music rips too. He can burn down the house with ragey anthems like “DIVE IN!” or ride the gentle wave of a guitar riff on “JELEEL JUICE!” JELEEL! approaches genre like costumes, trying things on, seeing what he likes, and taking whatever he thinks fits best. Premiering today on The FADER is the video for his recently released single “UNCIVILIZED! (GO!),” directed by Karl Perkins. Check it out below.
“I wanted to wake the world up with this song. It really defines real raw energy in a positive way,” he said about the song. “Although the song is bright my vocals bring a fiery force to it so it uplifts and motivates.”
“UNCIVILIZED! (GO!),” is closest to “DIVE IN!” on the JELEEL! song spectrum. The distorted 808s and sharp synths would smother someone with less powerful vocals, but his voice cuts through with ease. It almost feels a bit too self-serious until he gets close to the camera with a mischievous smirk to plainly say “Good morning, and I’m horny,” sprinkling in the perfect amount of goofiness before returning to the mayhem of the rest of his verse. After all, the exclamation point at the end of JELEEL!’s name isn’t for show.
