Releasing tons of music, doing shows all over the country, and staying more in touch with his fans than most musicians do via podcasts, message boards and the like, we have come to expect a lot from the boy named Jonah. It's been almost a full year since we've heard any new tunes from KJ-52, but we now have the pleasure of his latest album titled Five-Two Television. It's a conceptual album that replicates a full day of television watching. The new release will co-star a slew of other musicians, feature neck-jerking beats, and deliver the solid tunes that we have all come to enjoy. Five-Two Television will be making a run for best rap album of the year.

The album opens the gate with a fun "Intro" and launches into "Adventures Of Tweezyman," a classic whimsical KJ track filled with humor. The album quickly switches gears to the serious side of things with "End Of My Rope." The song is filled with good beats, a catchy chorus, and a message about letting the Lord handle things for us when times are too hard for us to handle. The lyrics of "Destroy my world and take me, past the end of my rope break me" make his point very clear. The album continues throughout to have a more sober and reflective tenor than most of KJ's past work; he is less lighthearted and funny and more serious.

Five-Two Television also contains a lot of 'Co-Stars' joining up with KJ to make some solid tunes. Theory Hazit, Trevor McNevan from TFK, Group 1 Crew, Da T.R.U.T.H, and Funky all collaborate with KJ to deliver great tracks. Each song blends hip-hop and the style of the guest artist to make a wonderful blend of sounds. That being said, the same effect does not happen on "Calling You" featuring JR or "Help Me Change" with Rob Beckley from Pillar. While the focus of the song is nice, the finished product seems to fall flat.

The twenty track listen does have a few fillers like "Let It Go" and "Shake It Off," which are standard Five-Two listens and make the album nice, but the best stuff available comes at the very end of your TV viewing day. "Broken People" begins with a pleasant piano and KJ doing some nice singing. It's a story-telling track about people who make bad choices and underscoring the strong need for God that we all have in our lives. Concluding the album is "Dear God," which can only be described as raw, deep, and emotional. It's about crying out to God for all of those answers in life that we usually don't always find but long to hear. These two additions make this a superior album to most that have come out in 2009 thus far. As a final note, I have heard that while on tour with Pillar this fall, KJ will include a reunion mix tape featuring Golden Child with every purchase of this album. Now hip hop fans have no reason to not pick up this stellar release.

- PReview date: 8/20/09, Review date: 9/11/09, written by Kevin Hoskins of Jesusfreakhideout.com