Jay Worthy Releases Star-Studded Double Full-Length Debut “Once Upon a Time” (Album Review)
Here is the double full-length studio debut from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada born albeit Compton, California raised emcee Jay Worthy. Coming on my radar in 2017 after The Alchemist produced his debut EP Fantasy Island from top to bottom, he would go onto drop 5 more EPs & a fantastic collab album with Larry June called 2 P’z in a Pod even though initial plans of putting it out through Griselda Records fell through for whatever reason. Harry Fraud produced You Take the Credit, We’ll Take the Check & DJ Muggs did What They Hittin’ 4 to significant acclaim, but the Roc Marciano-produced Nothing Bigger Than the Program was still good despite having too many features & the DāM-FunK produced Magic Hour improved on that as did The Tonite Show 2 entirely produced by DJ Fresh last fall. Almost a decade in the making however, Once Upon a Time has finally arrived.
After the “Beginning” intro, the first song “‘96 Big Body” gets the ball rollin’ with a smooth ass instrumental recalling the days when he was driving around in this fresh whip 3 decades earlier whereas “The Only 1” featuring Kamaiyah works in a Mobb beat from Cardo addresses those who thought they were the only pimps around. “For the Homies” featuring & produced by DJ Quik sends a shoutout to all of those in their lives who can’t be here leading into the g-funk heavy “Rekkless” looking back at his youth.
“Open Minded” instrumentally reminds me of something The Neptunes would’ve produced in the early/mid 2000s praising his girl for keeping that exact type of mentality while “From the Jump” featuring E-40, Jim Jones, Ohgeesy & Wiz Khalifa brings the quintet together over a DJ Fresh beat of Harry Fraud on the remix talking about how long they’ve been putting it down. “Dark Tints” featuring 03 Greedo strips the drums thanks to Conductor Williams refusing to stop what they started while “Famous Players” slickly gets in his pimp bag.
As for “Tides”, we have Jay Worthy on top of a drumlessly summery beat with lyrics about wanting a woman that he’s never even met by his side while “Bellagio” featuring Conway the Machine charismatically flexes of making music for the famous Las Vegas, Nevada hotel of the same name. “Choosing Shoes” featuring Boldy James keeps the drums out the equation painting imagery of the gangsta lifestyle while “2P’z” featuring Larry June recaptures the aura of their 2022 collab effort.
“True Story” featuring Ty$ winds down the final moments of Disc 1 by touching on some real life shit over a piano instrumental while “The Outcome” featuring Ab-Soul, Dave East & Westside Gunn unites the quartet for a 4 & a half minute barfest accompanied by a sample-heavy beat that The Alchemist cooked up real realizing that this is the very moment where he & guests should observe the results. “Jive 95” featuring Bun B & Spice 1 after the “Skrappordie” interlude opens Disc 2 to go by the cheat code while “Daytons” featuring Mack 10 gives a fuck you to all of the haters they have.
Wallie the Sensei joins Worthy for the Mobb-inspired “Know My Worth” waking up to the money since they don’t know if being broke or dead is worse while “Escape from LA” featuring B-Legit & Jay 305 comes together for a Bay Area tribute. “Sake” featuring Curren$y talks about feeling more like they’re vacation rather than being on the run while the drumless “Blade Runner” featuring Roc Marciano refers to themselves as big game hunters.
“I’ll Be Fine” featuring Vicasso hops over a g-funk beat to talk about their diametric approach to making music while the funky “Gang Shit” reunited with DJ Muggs so he can admit that he doesn’t like stunt because of his humbleness. “Bix in the Morning” featuring Ice-T heavily samples “6 ‘N tha Mornin’” for a generational gangsta rap crossover while “P-Funkentelechy” sends a love letter to Parliament-Funkadelic.
Once Upon a Time’s final act begins with “Angel Dust” incorporating a psychedelic Thundercat instrumental talking about PCP while the jazzy “Worthy vs. Getty” recalls a story that occurred in 2003. Prior to the “End” outro however, “Runnin’ Outta Time” is what officially finishes responding to people who think they know him by saying that he doesn’t recognize them from his hood with Terrace Martin playing piano while “Checkmate” featuring Mozzy & Payroll Giovanni starts the deluxe run talking about not fucking with anyone who doesn’t have goals.
“I Wish” chops up more sped-up soul samples to express exactly how much he misses the women he’s speaking directly to while “The Big” featuring Le$ & Premo Rice unites so they can talk about people hating them because of the individual success each artist has experienced. 9th Wonder turns up the soulfulness for “I Can’t Relate” to profess that he doesn’t find it relatable whenever people say life’s a bitch while the funky “2night” talks about catching him in ancient whips.
Method Man appears during the drumless single “Visions” stating their confidence of always being right here as long as God’s by their side while “Same Song” featuring Shyheim talks about gangstas not living that long over a Camoflauge Monk beat. “The 4 Tops” featuring $ha Hef, T.F. & Vicasso unites everyone to drop singular verses without the need of a hook while “Mail Order Bride” featuring A$AP Twelvyy & Isa P. Anchorman laughs off all these rappers who’re continuously acting tough.
“Rosie Perez” featuring Boldy James & TAS rounds out 3rd talking about everyone having to hustle so they could earn the precious gold medals they’ve won themselves while “Kalifornication” featuring YG Hootie represents their home state over an A$AP P on the Boards instrumental. After the “Ghetto Smile” interlude, “No Price” featuring Novelist soulfully talks about certain things being for free while the final bonus track “If I” featuring Rome Streetz concludes with both Griselda artists bodying an Evidence beat.
Although What They Hittin’ 4 still remains my personal favorite entry in Jay Worthy’s discography, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that the 30 song & almost 90 minute Once Upon a Time sticks out as the most star-studded musical opus he’s ever conceived. Bridging the east & the west coast with its admirably versatile guest list, the production mostly takes its cues from the westside to cohesively tell a story of authentically resilient ambition.
Score: 9/10
