PRISM MEDIA
PRESENTING REALITY IN SLOW MOTION.
GWALA
“God pulled me through the struggle, being blessed is what He owed.”
By Mike Mekus
1/18/2022
With “Gwala”, Sarasota rapper Drej continues his string of effective 2021 singles in anticipation for his eventual debut album…
I first “met” Drej Jordan in the heart of downtown Tampa in June of 2020 during a peaceful protest following the murder of George Floyd, shortly after my friends and I were tear gassed by the cops. He was there with a group of his friends, but he had a noticeable confidence and charisma to him as he led chants and galvanized an angry and hurt city. I was told to check out his music by somebody in his group and was quickly enamored with his effortlessly cool 2020 singles “Did It Again” (for my money, it’s still my favorite thing I’ve heard from him) and “Rockstar”.
All through 2021, Drej quietly released consistently solid singles and in the fall of 2021, he dropped “Gwala”, arguably his strongest effort of the year. Drej’s voice sounds clearly influenced by the likes of Polo G and Rod Wave. He raps in a super melodic, slick way, always easily understood and perfectly Gen Z. On “Gwala”, which features smart production, Drej doesn’t rap about anything redefining the genre (ideas like the pursuit of money, the bad women who are after him, and how he continues to pursue his dreams); that doesn’t matter, though. So many times with rap, people focus on what’s being said and not HOW it’s being said.
Having deep or interesting, thought-provoking things to rap about can make for good music, but it can just as quickly become stuffy and self-aggrandizing. Drej avoids the pitfall that many young rappers get tricked into and instead makes melodically engaging rap that maybe doesn’t prove to be groundbreaking but always is hypnotically catchy and vocally buoyant. With “Gwala”, like the rest of his singles from 2021, this remains true.
While he released a collab album at the start of 2021, entitled BAD BOYZ with Brandon Gomes, I am eager to hear a solo debut album, given the quality of his recent singles. Look out for Drej in 2022. He’s a strong up-and-comer from Sarasota with undeniably raw talent.