Jay UF announces debut album Final Notice featuring lead Single Fade OR StopA

If you've experienced Kerser live, you'll recognise Jay UF as his hypeman. The rapper and emcee has dropped a slew of his own promos over the years but is now ready to release his debut album FinalNotice, featuring the lead single Fade Or Stop, out February 10 and available to pre-order now.

Jay met Kerser and his brother Rates while they were all in high school, and although Jay was the only one of them already rapping back then, he’s quick to clarify, "I don't think I'm the reason [Kerser] started rapping, but, yeah, he sort of listened and loved my raps from the start." Over the years Jay has been called upon to feature on many tracks by his ABK Records brethren Kerser and Rates, but he didn't consider making and performing rap music as a viable career option "until Kerser proved [him] wrong".Initially just rapping "as a hobby", Jay confesses it was "more like a therapy sort of thing; getting my thoughts down on the page, writing it, recording it and hearing it back made me feel ten times better... I just got more and more addicted to it, and loved it more and more and, yeah! Here we are!"

A departure from the self-described "depressing" material he's released previously, lead single Fade Or Stop is described by Jay as "sort of grimey", and reveals "a different side" of his musical personality. It's uplifting and tells his truth ("Now I'm standing on the edge and I'm prepared to fly") over a cranking beat with vibrating bass.

Jay UF's beats are unconventional, as demonstrated via the stirring use of strings on Story Of Mine, another track the emcee acknowledges has "a positive vibe". "I like to push the boundaries with what's hip hop," he allows, adding, "I love all types of music. And if you can sort of bring a nice melody and a nice drum beat together, and make rap music out of it - I think that's pretty cool."

After discovering Flavio De Martino on YouTube, Jay reached out to the German producer, hoping they could work together on his debut record. "I hit him up with an email, 'cause I loved his sound, and then he looked me up and said, 'Yeah, we definitely can work together'," he recalls. Jay UF was initially concerned De Martino wouldn't like his "bogan Australian accent", but the producer is so happy with how Final Notice turned out that the pair has already "worked out an agreement for the next one".

Another standout track, Like This – slated as the second single – is guitar- and piano-driven with a swaggering pace. We Actually Did (feat Kerser) – which could be the sequel to Kerser's We The Type (feat Jay UF), from Kerser’s latest and sixth Tradition set – celebrates their achievements: "Now we’re takin’ over rap/Yeah, we actually did." Here, the duo's complementary metrical flow glides effortlessly over Slim Shady/Dr Dre-style beats. And Jay UF's album wouldn't be complete without Rates leaving his stamp of approval by featuring on the menacing, punchy cut Day Ones.

Blake Galera-Holliss, who Jay noticed and admired on tracks by other hip-hop artists, features on two Final Notice tracks. Rating the "Linkin Park sort of alternative rock sound" he brings, as soon as Jay heard the beats for Exhale and The Mirror he knew Blake would supply "perfect" hooks for these tracks. "And at the same time, believe it or not, he Instagrammed me asking if I wanted to do a song," Jay marvels. "It was like the law of attraction, or synchronicity, or however you'd wanna say it... I was actually looking at his music the night before and he inboxed me the next day. It's crazy!"

Like his 'brothers' Kerser and Rates, Jay UF raps about what he knows, what's real. "We all suffered depression and we all abused drugs, and we were all on Centrelink and felt sorry for ourselves," he tells. "And I think that, with the music – it sort of got us out of that and made us figure out the problems for ourselves." Jay hopes his music will speak to younger generations, offering fans "something that they can relate to". "When we were listening to rap music, there was no one in Australia that was talking about that sort of stuff," he points out.

The time wasn't right for Jay to release an album of his own material until now. Just one spin of Final Notice and you'll agree: it's Jay UF's time to shine.​

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VJ Zakk-E

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