Daniel Jordan – “Dark Night of the Soul” (Album Review)

Daniel Jordan is a 36 year old MC/producer from Hayward, California who’s been around since his 2005 debut album The Twilight of Daniel Jordan. However, it wouldn’t be until 2011 when he dropped his sophomore album The Stranger under Reel Life Productions to very positive reception. This was followed up 5 years later with the Mad Insanity Records-backed Killed by Love & then ‘Till Death Do Us Part under Daniel’s own label Kill All Idols Records at the beginning of last year. But with the first quarter of 2021 drawing to a close in a couple weeks, Daniel is treating fans to his 5th full-length album.

After a 1-minute intro sampling  “Could I Be Falling in Love?” by Syl Johnson, the first song “I’m So Tired” talks about being the worst person he knows over a sample of the Fugazi joint of the same name whereas the next track “Don’t Worry” talks about how time flies by quickly over a caliginous beat. The song “Everywhere (Let Me Be the One)” tells this woman to stop playing around over a seductive instrumental while “The Death of Michael Corleone” details a spiritual fall from grace over an atmospheric trap beat.

The song “I Don’t Wanna Be Me Anymore” talks about crying inside over a cacophonous instrumental while the track “What Am I Going Through?” talks about his troubles always following him around over a dejecting beat. The song “Keep Thinking of Suicide” of course opens up about his suicidal thoughts over a harrowing instrumental while “The Downhearted” talks about feeling like he’s in a manic state over a beat sampling the late B.B. King’s rendition of “How Blue Can You Get?”.

After the “3 A.M.” instrumental interlude, the song “Jodi Aries” talks about needing this woman over a sample of the iconic Sade joint “Cherish the Day” & then the title track that finishes off the album talks about being fed up with himself over a beat flipping “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” by the late Tom Petty.

The Stranger has always been my personal favorite of Daniel’s, but I think this is a close second. He does a fantastic job of channeling all of his demons through the lyrics & the way he samples all those classic songs from Fugazi to Sade is very impressive.

Score: 8/10