Review of MJM EP 'MJM Parables Part 1'

As an artist and singer-songwriter MJM (Mark J. Morgan) is able to break loose and write just about everything under the sun.  All components of his life from relationships, family, faith, circumstances and even hardships offer themselves as muses.  This adds a textured complexity to his songs that otherwise would not have been there before as Morgan attempts to write music that transcends all possibilities, emotions and lifestyles.

But this decisive no-preference rule to his songwriting agenda doesn’t mean that he has lost scope on what direction is best for his music.  Rather this innovative and open spiritedness has led him to make the move to cross over from gospel music to traditional R&B.

With a strong association with gospel music, much of the R&B songs off the MJM’s latest EP, MJM Parables Part 1, have direct ties to his background. Like an umbilical cord to his roots, you can see where his inspirations are drawn from.

Morgan seems to channel this idea of soul and blues in his first track to the EP, “With You.”  The sounds of mellow, relaxing vibrations are juxtaposed next to the sounds of traffic, which seems to act as a premonition.  The opening appears to signal the busy intersection of smooth, jazzy soul with the subtle balance of hip-hop towards the latter half of the song.  Morgan raps with lyrical ease throughout some melodic tunes.

The second track “Parallel” harnesses some electronic beats that harkens to '90s R&B.  The great beats are reflective of the rhythmic lifestyle that Morgan developed earlier in his career.  He is self-taught in playing both the piano and guitar.  The live, raging music definitely showcases Morgan as an artist with a distinct talent.

“Hold You Down” (feat. Delanor Page) shows Morgan cycling in a sort of cyclone as he only slows down to match the bluesy rhythms which accompany his rapping.  He delineates the rhymes that comes out as bursts of insight.  Delanor Page joins him towards the latter half of the song as a kind of dueling force.  Page raps with inspired ease and issues a slew of words with a blazed clarity that seems unmatched.

The patterns of R&B music mixed with nuances of hip-hop continue to manifest itself in the forth-coming tracks.  “Human Nature” and “All It Is” starts with Morgan at first cooing into the mic and then spiting rhymes, introducing both harsh and soft elements into his style.

The last track, “For The Culture,” also follows the same formulaic approach but also condones an informative news reel sort of slide show of current events that efficiently sends listeners on a reality trip.  As they listen on to today’s culturally low and high points, which definitely come across from this inspirational track is the deeply entrenched political dogma and religious angle that audiences will get in bite-sizes in a less than four-minute track.

It looks like MJM on his latest, MJM Parables Part 1, is not afraid to put stuff that is directly on his mind on to the EP.  And with that sort of creative impulse, Morgan tries to amp up his style by delving into different genres, such as blues, hip hop and R&B.  Morgan is an excellent example of secular music unafraid to combine the more spiritual side of things into his music.  With influences that range from Lauryn Hill, Musiq Soulchild and Kanye West, you can say what MJM has in common with these artists is that they both aren’t afraid to experiment and manages to, also, mix it up when it comes to adding their own interpretations to the hip-hip and R&B genres.

MJM is a capable artist with strong reverberations to his past. His music definitely exhibits his charisma when executing his songs. And this will go a long way in introducing more fans to his line of music.