Jern Eye

With tight board work from the likes of Jake One, Keelay and Zaire, and !llmind, Oakland-based Filipino-American rapper Jern Eye has ample support to spit his rhymes over on his sophomore offering, Vision. Unfortunately, the MC's voice either gets lost amidst the dope production or he's at risk of getting outshined by his guests. Case in point is the trunk funk of "So and So," where Jern has to work to catch up to the lyrical fire spouted by guest MC Guilty Simpson. Elsewhere, Jern and guests Cali Agents and Aristotle get the girls' hands in the air with the club-friendly "Burnin," and Jake One supplies the heat on bangers like "Cali," featuring Spank Pops and J Billion. The one glaring misstep on Vision is the lone track Jern Eye produced, "Pleasure of Love," which is a Tom-Tom Club-sampling new wave throwback disaster that upon first listen, makes you wonder if you're listening to the wrong album. Still, this is a respectable album from an underground artist that will surely continue to make some noise out West.