Our childhood’s are precious factors in our lives. So precious, that when they ever happen to be shattered – we relapse further into this scary concept understood as adulthood. A huge amount of time on this Earth by us humans is consumed by dealing with such a transition. And with that said, Jon Bellion’s fourth mixtape, The Definition, is a definite elegant romanticized version of this struggle. Not only do we hear the worst sides of maturity, we begin to wander throughout it from a child’s world and mind.
You want perfect directions to a peaceful atmosphere? Here it is and Jon Bellion fully delivers. This mixtape is “Disney” meets “Adult Swim” and it’s an amazing mixture of the two concepts.
As a kid myself, I can confidently say that listening to Bellion mask the issues of fame and stress of maturity with the sound of adolescence is the genius of what he does. His lyricism comes from an honest place that all of us understand and have came from. He doesn’t speak about outrageous moments too often, but when he does – he purposely does so to educate us and protect us from the evils of the world around us.
The Definition is a pearl of beauty that must be explored and experienced on one’s own time and will to truly fall in love with it’s existence, and it is highly recommended you take that chance.
Each song after song keeps you this pretty, spacious, happy feeling – regardless of how sad a song may get. This project is the type that you put on as a lullaby in the early hours of the day, before the sun has risen. It keeps you levitated and this most likely due to his voice and the things he chooses to do with that talent. His vocals are angelic, his spirit is immense and with every second he captures our hearts.
In the spectrum of his peers, which include other members of Visionary Music Group such as Logic, QuESt, Castro and immense amount of other Hip Hop oriented artists, Bellion proves that though he may be able to fit in the same categories as they have and may share some of the same success they’ve received, he is still a completely new and extraordinarily unique artist.
What makes The Definition differ in artistic expression?
It’s Jon’s lyricism. What he gets through in just four lines of vocality and musicianship reaches farther than what may seem. Though some lyrics may seem direct and boastful, “Fast forward now I’m 22/half a million after [edit:Texas] taxes just to make a couple songs/and I don’t mind”, others deepen the tale being presented, “They told me my attention span aligned/somewhat with a child or a fly” as Bellion explains the constant hostility and put downs found around him as those he cared for most called for him to stay bounded by mediocrity.
You see how his honesty, though painful allows us to closer read into where he is currently. Most artists have not opened up to being in this vulnerable state, except possibly someone such as Drake or even Childish Gambino to certain extents. But still the thing that give’s Bellion his own original spot in the bigger picture is that he’s conceptual and that he does not make his music too dark or bouncy to relate too. You don’t bump Jon Bellion the way you would probably bump maybe “Energy” in your new Mercedes to make you feel like the man or “Freaks and Geeks” when you’re about to take that Physics test (that you know you have no possible chance of passing), but when your speakers start screaming “Pre-Occupied” you’ll definitely feel free to not care about anyone who’s tried to put you down – because it’s more human – kiddy even – than most music out today.
Jon creates a story that follows his life during the recording of the project. While the first three tracks of the mixtape have a braggadocios feel and a free-spirited ingredient shared between them, we see Jon gradually change his views on the workings of the world. Though “Munny Right” begins the tape and immediately proves to us that Bellion has completely no care and full disgust for those who try to stand against him without anything to prove they are better – “Carry Your Throne” touches on the strength of his sexual finesse and “Pre-Occupied” without a doubt is meant to be his metaphorical middle finger to the terrible artists of the music industry and his negative critics, everything afterward begins to ascend into higher learning. “Luxury” ends the tape on a high note (both musically and literally), telling us that Bellion no longer aspires to be the greatest or better than anyone, but rather just have others and himself simply be happy and proud of who he’s become. A man.
We witness Bellion go from being stuck up and pretentious to having a more loving heart and spiritual outlook on his decisions regarding family, friends, fans and those he’s lost in his life, whether alive or dead. His introspection, stirs our curiosity and causes us to even reminisce our choices. He proves he’s “Human”, despite how much he may prefer not to be. And as listeners, that’s all we ever really want or maybe need to hear. That you’re a red-blooded, like-minded human being. That you’re us.
The childlike heart of the tape helps to reinforce this. Bellion grows song after song. He transcends to the point of eventually not needing to have lyrics for a chorus he’s written, but rather have the music speak for itself, and this comes from him endlessly searching for who he is from track 1 to 11. The “Pixarish” feel of The Definition also builds upon the idea of innocence. Bellion often mentions across the tape that things are much more evil and threatening than how they appear in the music industry or just in general, but while doing this, he’ll say it in passing most often playfully to not scare the listener but rather cause the listener to realize how easily one can be deceived or played with by anyone they know.
We’re still newborns in many aspects of our lives and Bellion wants to make sure that we know protection is key as our world’s widen.
#SQUAD – ReMu SHS 2015
Amir Royale
is a multi-talented actor, recording artist, filmmaker, and entertainment entrepreneur with M. StageScene Communications, Corp. Royale is a graduate and adjunct professor of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music (where he also earned a minor in Cinema Studies). Royale also is a graduate of the acclaimed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where he studied Drama. Royale hails from St. Albans, Queens — a neighborhood that was once home to many legendary musicians, such as James Brown, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, A Tribe Called Quest, and Count Basie.