Fearless, rebellious, and the creative force behind the blossoming genre of ‘Gay Hip-Hop’, Boris Jelic has made himself one of the most exciting pop innovators in Sweden. After touring around Europe with a plethora of hit singles, including the wonderfully relentess ‘Sell Me Something’, Jelic is now ready to unleash his debut album.
Aptly titled ‘Do Or Die’, the new album was written over the course of several years. It’s an album that fully encapsulates Jelic’s life so far, taking his struggles, his loves, his victories, and his losses and blending them with a distinctive, electronic sound to create something that is both deeply personal and refreshingly unique.
The album was written while Jelic was living in Stockholm, battling a depression that almost took his life and his passion for music. It was a time of extreme hardship that gave life to the album’s title song, an anthem that has since become a theme for Jelic’s life. Two years later, and the full album is finally here, revealing the honest truth about Jelic’s life and the breadth of his creative spirit.
Previous singles, ‘Freedom’, ‘Sell Me Something’, and ‘Not Afraid To Die’ shine on the new seven-track release, bringing their dark, electronic sound in droves, breathing life into the album right from the start. They set the stage for Jelic’s now trademark sound of club energy, heavy hip-hop beats and a twisted vocals, while lending a hand for new tracks ‘Problematic’, ‘Mind Ya Own Business', and ‘Do Or Die’ to shine.
‘Problematic’ is a slow-build to an aggressive flow, lit by glistening digital tones and pushed forward by a palpable, almost tense atmosphere. It’s a similar story with ‘Mind Ya Own Business’, but here Jelic has injected the track with more of a club vibe, raising the tempo while maintaining his driven vocal style to create a noticeable contrast in sounds. It’s the title track that ultimately has the last say on the album however, bringing things to a close with his most evolved and minimalist piece to date.
We knew after hearing ‘Sell Me Something’ that Jelic was going to be a unique force in music, and his debut album is the next step in that evolutionary process. It’s honest, raw, and unique to his vision, making it something that you are definitely not going to hear anywhere else.
Score: 7.5/10
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