Album Review: IDK - Is He Real?

‘Is He Real?‘ – a striking question that IDK (formerly known as Jay IDK) poses for his debut album’s namesake can have double meaning when looked in the wider context of his career. Though the title sets the stage for a record in pursuit of religious gratification and God’s existence, the question itself pertains to IDK in a way that fans may ask the same of him.

Bar last year’s mixtape ‘IDK & FRIENDS ‘, IDK has been keeping his following waiting for another solo project since the impressive ‘IWasVeryBad‘ in 2017 – seemingly not willing to capitalise on his wave-making ear for production and attitude-driven rapping. Choosing to postpone ‘Is He Real?‘ (it’s original release set for late 2018), the London-born / Maryland-raised rapper pursued a conceptual full-length debut that would explore his internal struggle with his religious upbringing. A struggle it certainly is too, as the record starts with a spoken-word monologue that details a child envisioning an afterlife that abruptly ends with “When it’s finally your turn / You wake up from your dream because God isn’t f*cking real”.

Rather than exploring the question posed on its cover, IDK seems to do everything in his power to prove that he’s very much on the cynical, realist side of the argument. Matching brash writing that pulls no punches with production that dares not pull any less, IDK crafts a startling, brutally honest persona that goes against everything he was taught at church. From the trunk-knocking bass and sharp snares of ’42 Hundred Choices’ detailing his discontent with the restrictions of Sunday service: “My mama told me to go to church / I was sittin’ ten rows from the first / Daydreaming ’bout everything I’d probably get / If I take the lady in front of me’s purse” to the harsh piano grind of ’24’, IDK’s production choices match his rebellious attitude well – at least towards the beginning of the album.

‘Porno’ continues the trend of abrasive, bass-heavy tunes that tap into IDK’s unruly perspective on the many paradoxes and questions found in the good book: “The bible say beatin’ my dick and killin’ is equal / But that don’t add up, ’cause the amount of times / That I milk my shit I’ll probably be considered serial” and features excellent verses from guest features Pusha-T and JID. Tracks like these where IDK shines are sadly only momentary highlights on the record as a whole. ‘Is He Real?‘ is an experience only peppered by tracks that can be considered full songs, with the aforementioned tracks only joined by ‘No Cable’ and ‘Digital’ as the record continues. The former is an interesting analogy of short attention spans when a modern audience is shown issues as shocking as a police shooting, linking our growing disinterest on these events to changing the channel on the TV.

Doubting IDK’s observation of both his own and his audiences’ weaknesses can’t be questioned, though moments like this are too few to justify a full-length release. More often than is necessary, IDK depends on short, skit-like filler tracks that attempt to hammer home the conceptual nature of ‘Is He Real?‘. From a baptism eulogy delivered by DMX (‘The “E” in Blue’) to a conversation about God’s existence with Tyler, the Creator (‘I Do Me… You Do You’) to a couple of tracks that you’d be excused to mistake for instrumental breaks save for their refrains – the album meanders along to pan out it’s run time in order to convince you it has something important to say.

Though IDK proposes a clear and distinct idea that he returns to at times on his debut album with his question of God’s existence, his ability to keep this theme running throughout the entirety of the project is not a case of how committed he is to it, but of how interesting he can make it sound. Only on the closing track ‘Julia…’ do we return to this mystery as IDK gives reason to his bitterness, heart-achingly explaining his aspirations to be a painter when young only to be told there was no use for one in the world, as well as revisiting his mother’s death at the hands of AIDS – only to find out later that it was his step-father who gave it to her. This purgative finale lets the album end on the same high it sometimes reaches – and explains why the question posed in the album’s title is one IDK so intently seeks the answer to – though the ‘getting there’ is too often muddled and bogged down in a style over substance approach.

Reviewed by: Carter Fife