Jeshi is a rapper from East London who has enjoyed some — but not enough — popularity for his debut album, 2022’s “Universal Credit,” an honest reflection of his life growing up inner-city and poor in England. After some lower-stakes projects, Jeshi properly returned with 2025’s “Airbag Woke Me Up,” which shows his embracing of English rap traditions, such as grime and UK drill, while making it his own experimentally and earnestly.
“BAD PARTS ARE MY FAVOURITE” gets more and more depressing when you analyze the lyrics, although the drum and bass instrumental may seem a bit upbeat. It seems like Jeshi is coping with his life by gaslighting himself into saying the title of the song, even admitting “Got no one, empty like my place” and saying that someone in his life is crying crocodile tears for him.
Furthermore, Jeshi simultaneously challenges the audience and comforts himself with the line, “What’s life if you don’t dance with danger?” The bridge has Jeshi confronting himself in the mirror, saying that he doesn’t like what he sees. The depressive lyric “Say ‘fuck this’ every time I wake up” is also certainly intimate and relatable.
Jeshi’s voice is slightly pitched up on the verses of “SCUMBAG,” which could be a creative decision to portray youthfulness. The chorus, “Scumbag in my DNA, buying weed with EMA, got some wrongs that I should right, but today is not the day,” highlights his decadence and imperfections.
“HURRICANE” has a beautiful bassline that sounds like, oddly enough, goth rock band Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” There’s also a pitched-up voice that’s reminiscent of Kevin Abstract’s occasionally manipulated vocals. The lyric, “They say life a whirlwind, you my little hurricane,” is quite the pick-up line.
Jeshi has a great flow with heartfelt lyrics, and possibly one of his best verses on “HURRICANE:” “Take me away from the usual madness, what you gonna do when disaster strikes?” Jeshi presumably and jadedly asks this to his love interest. Singer LEILAH’s vocal contributions are the cherry on top, making the song even more beautiful and tying things up nicely.
“YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE” has a funny-sounding piano, courtesy of pianist Chassol and a distorted bass. Luckily, it’s just a throwaway interlude and not a full song.
The kick drum usage is immaculate on “ALONE TONIGHT,” giving the song more sonic depth with the clusters of percussion in succession. The piano and vocal samples are beautifully implemented, offering a soft melody to counter the heavy percussion. The lyric “You’re mad at me, and you have reason to be” is a nice inclusion since some people discount and downplay others’ right to be angry. As highlighted by the lyrics, both parties of the relationship are alone that night. Who knows if they made amends?
“EVERY DOG” has a gorgeous synth layer deeper into the song if you stay to listen to it fully, which is a great metaphor for sticking with people when they’re at their worst in an investment and then enjoying their improvements. Beyond that metaphor, Jeshi admits his flaws with the lyric “I could never be the perfect painting on the wall for you to see” but doesn’t buy into the expectation that he should be perfect because it’s statistically and logically impossible. Furthermore, he raps “You break me down, you leave me in the streets, every dog have its day and now I’m barking on the wrong tree.”
“DEERS IN THE ROAD” is where the album first gets more experimental than its baseline level of experimentation. Jeshi’s flow is one of his strongest and the warped synth-like sample is slightly disorienting in an entertaining way. That mixed with the sound effects of glass shattering, car crashes and people screaming makes this song extremely memorable.
“LOVE SONGS” is a complete 180-degree flip from the previous song at first. An acoustic guitar greets the ears, but the sample gets distorted, and a looming percussion makes the song a bit more intimidating. “You say I never write love songs for you” explains why this song was created. I hope they enjoyed the song, as it’s certainly one of the most unique love songs out there.
“My baby’s depressed and I think it’s my fault” in a distraught high-pitched voice and a drum loop is what greets the listener at the start of “DISASTER.” It makes a ton of sense for this song to come after “LOVE SONGS,” though “DEERS IN THE ROAD” still doesn’t make sense in this sequence.
Jeshi describes his confusion with his partner over love languages and miscommunications in the relationship. Communicating can be scary and difficult to do effectively, so it’s important to have conversations about things that weigh on your mind instead of letting them fester and having someone else read your mind. Elijah Waters’ vocals also feel like well-flowing spoken word.
The dub-like bass on “STUCK ON LOOP” is great, and the cherry on top is once again LEILAH’s beautiful voice.
“DISCONNECT!” is indubitably a masterpiece in experimental hip-hop and one of the best singles of 2024. The retro-inspired horns and drum machine snare mixed with the stellar vocals make this one for the ages. Jeshi, along with English rappers Louis Culture, Fredwave and singer J. Caesar all contribute greatly to this posse cut. There is great imagery in the lyrics “We watch the sky turn to black,” “I saw their eyes roll back” and “World hit me in my solar plexus.” The song deserves so much more attention for its fresh take on rap sonically.
“OVER YOU” is a solemn end to “Airbag Woke Me Up” with the acoustic guitar playing, the softer-played drums and vocally subdued rapping. The lyrics include “Photos can speak a million words, but it’s clearer when you’re closer to me” and “So much rain fell on my window that winter.”
Jeshi is such a consistent and eloquent rapper. This album further proves his talent and prowess. The sequencing is messy, but there are great ideas in the experimentation. I look forward to supporting his future endeavors.
Rating: 4/5