The Chester French Blog

Check out this dope review from Ruby Hornet:

How many times has an artist, regardless of genre, age, and skill said something that resembles, ‘man, you can just listen to this album front to back.’ We’ve all heard it, and here at Ruby Hornet, we don’t trust anyone. So, instead of taking these artists at their word, we’ve come up with a way to measure an album’s front-to-back ability. We went out and got a new stereo system with a multi-disc changer, and loaded it up with the new arrivals to see which can actually be enjoyed throughout, and which ones were better off as EPs. We usually throw 5 or so albums in each Front To Back, but decided to switch up and give all our attention to Chester French and their biomixtape Welcome To Jacques James Vol. 1: Endurance. See it below.

The rating system is as follows.
Let It Ride: Just press play and relax…A near perfect LP (0-2 skips)
Breathe & Stop: A couple joints here, a couple joints there…But overall a solid LP (3-5 skips)
One & Done: There maybe a hit single here, but not much else… (6 or more skips)

Artist: Chester French
Album: Welcome To Jacques James Vol. 1: Endurance
Rating: Let It Ride
Synopsis: D.A. Smart and Max have teamed up with DJ Clinton Sparks to release their LP precursor, Welcome To Jacques Jams Vol 1.: Endurance. Dropped via email from the band at 5AM last week Wednesday, the mixtape, according to the band, “is a chronicle of the past six years of our lives. It tells our story, from the gymnasiums of Harvard to the hills of Hollywood. Unlike “Love the Future,” which we’ve written, arranged, performed, produced, and engineered by ourselves, “Jacques Jams” features a collection of new, original music that we created in the hills of Massachusetts and then invited some of our favorite artists to grace.”

The result is a creative, energetic, and capturing project that places the listener in the dorm rooms, parties, and Circoc swimming pools as a third passenger on Chester French’s path to the release of their forthcoming LP, Love The Future.  Clinton Sparks is at the helm, along with artists such as Kardinal Offishall, Jadakiss, Talib Kweli, Pharrell, Diddy, Wale, The Clipse, Janelle Monae, and many others who interact as ambassadors for Chester French, opening doors and welcoming the duo into the wonderful world of entertainment.  The project is one of the year’s most relevant, as it perfectly details the current pop culture/party/twitter thing that’s going on, and it does so all while being witty, and sonically awesome.

The mix opens at Harvard University with “Chapter 1: Starting A Band”, where the guys decide to form a band, and continues in the shape of 5 additional Chapters in which Max and D.A. chase “the cool” (“Chapter 2: Trying To Be Cool)”, feel rejected and discover their own “cool” (“Chapter 3: “Realizing Being A Nerd Is Cool”), gain acceptance and latch onto “the original cool” they were looking for (“Chapter 4: LaLa Land”), lose themselves in “the cool” (“Chapter 5: Becoming A Douche Bag”), then realize they don’t want “the cool” after all (“Chapter 6: Regaining Your Hard On”).

That theme is excellently portrayed with the help of Janelle Monae, who guest stars on “Nerd Girl”, a track in which D.A. sings, “the girls I used to chase ’round were nothing but looks/never cared ’bout the news I follow or my favorite books/then I met you and you showed me to a different path/now I’m reading you Dostoevsky and you’re doing my math/you’re my nerd girl…”  D.A. finds his nerd girl after an epiphany, as well as being rejected by some shallow pretty b**ch. The song is immediately followed by an answering machine skit in which the fellas are told their lives are changing forever and they relocate to L.A. Later, after Chester French is signed to Star Trak, partying with Jadakiss and swimming in Diddy’s Circoc Vodka pool, D.A. forgets all about his nerd girl, which takes the form of another hilarious phone call skit with Monae and followed by “I’m Sorry” featuring Wale.

The genius of the mixtape is the way in which Chester French is able to communicate their story so well through the music.  While listening to “Life In LA” featuring Pharrell Williams, I was taken back to my interview with the guys (read here):

RubyHornet: You were living in LA, then moved out. What was the deciding factor in leaving Los Angeles? How did living there affect your view of the music industry? Did you see any affects (good or bad) on your music or creative process?

D.A.: We just got tired of L.A. and of paying rent when we were on tour a lot of the time. We got to see the music industry from the inside there a bit, and the only conclusion I left with was that it’s easier and more fun to create outside of that world.

Create they did.  Chester French heads into the release of their debut album with the perfect setup, and come April 21st could have two award-worthy projects on their hands.

-DJ RTC

Pretty sweet, right? head over to Ruby Hornet and drop a comment. Do it!!

-DA & Max