2011 has been a year of building blocks for Zero Star. The Columbus emcee started of the year with a three song EP, followed it up in the summer with a longer EP, and is now closing out the year with a full length album. With only one album to his name prior to this year released in 2006, it certainly signifies a step up in commitment to his music. Everything he’s released up until this point hinted that something special is coming. With Maybe I’m Joking, Maybe I’m Not, we get a solid album, but with a few slip ups and no “wow” moment, we’re still left hoping that the best is yet to come.

The most appealing aspect of Zero Star as an emcee is how personal and intimate he gets on the mic. His voice is always up front in the mix, putting his lyrics on display. The majority of his subject material deals with his struggles to overcome monetary issues, resisting the temptation of drugs, and to finally make it as a working musician. My biggest criticism of his previous work was that there was a lack of hooks to help make his music stick in your head after the song was over. Star seems to have worked on that, especially on tracks such as “New Balance,” which features a great chorus that fits in the groove laid down by producer Chozin. He declares “Everything I am and everything I did/It helped me/grow into a man/I was a kid/It’s healthy/Do you realize just what this is/they dealt me/a deck of cards/so I got to live.” This is said over a great boom bap beat with a female soul singer sampled in the background, which come together with the lyrics to great effect. For the majority of the album, Star does a good job of giving a nuanced discussion of personal struggles versus larger picture issues. However, there are a few points on the album where Star lets a line slip that can be interpreted to be offensive in a way that I can only hope wasn’t intended. In the song, “Must Be Heaven,”” Star asks, “Why would Good Life only be just for a Hebrew?/Why is the hood life only seen best with a needle?” Star seems like a good guy, so I’m assuming that he’s intending to say something along the lines of how the concept of living the Good Life found within Judaism can be applied universally, and that if you’re living in the hood you don’t need to turn to drugs to deal with the hardships. However, given that the relationship between African American and Jewish American cultures have seen their share of problems in the past (Professor Griff or Jesse Jackson come to mind), I’m worried that this line could be misinterpreted to mean that he’s placing blame upon the Jewish community for the problems in his own neighborhood. I’m not trying to put words in anybody’s mouth, I just know that the first time I heard the line, I was worried and had to rewind and listen to it again. One other line that I’m still not sure what to do with is in the song “Dizzy,” in which Zero Star says, “We ‘bout to get into this matrix/get that Asian look.” I’m not so much offended as genuinely confused, since I’m assuming he’s making reference to the move The Matrix, which isn’t particularly Asian. It’s an odd line that doesn’t have the effect that I’m sure he was hoping for, since he repeats the line twice. Unfortunately, later in the same song, he rhymes, “I write my verses Indian-style, praying in a tepee/I’m joking about that tepee, but I’m smoking on that peace tree.”” This line I can’t defend or explain, as I’m sure that the best case scenario is that if I played the song for my friend who is Native American, she would groan and just chalk it up as one more offensive appropriation of a stereotype of her culture. In the context of the rest of the album, Star seems like a good guy just trying to find his way, and I don’t think he’s trying to be offensive, but he should be more careful when making reference to cultures that aren’t his own. He repeatedly confesses love for his family and his commitment to leading a virtuous life that can serve as an example not only for his kids but other young men with a similar upbringing. His chemistry with producer Chozin is really good, with lots of laid back beats with soul samples that give a nice platform for Star’s storytelling.

Maybe I’m Joking, Maybe I’m Not isn’t the top tier album I was hoping for, but it’s a solid album full of hip hop with good grooves, lyricism and hooks. Zero Star recommitted himself to his music career this year, and I think it paid off. He worked with some producers such as Chozin on this album or Maggz on Don’t Look Now that aren’t as well known, but are certainly talented. Aside from the few slip ups that I‘ve already discussed, it’s a solid album. Hopefully he’ll keep working and improving, and we’ll get that great album out of him yet.