★★★★★
Positioning a new artist is not easy, especially young black artists, who tend to come a dime a dozen. Unfortunately, there is also a perception that black artists are competing for limited space in a way other artists are not, which puts more pressure on young black artists than is probably fair. And often consumers can mistake a more subtle, non-flashy artist for a mediocre one...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-01-20
★★★★★
Washington D.C.'s Nahum Grymes, aka J. Holiday, simply couldn't have asked for a better debut: 2007's Back of My 'Lac did more than hurl a pair of inescapable and often-imitated singles onto the charts ("Bed" and "Suffocate"); it reached gold status and earned him a Grammy nod for best contemporay R&B Album...
- www.soultracks.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
J. Holiday broke through in 2007 with the sultry R&B; Number One "Bed," a title that sums up his cosmology. Round 2 rarely strays far from the mattress: bodies colliding with headboards, the whisper of sheets — everything short of thread counts and Posturepedic model numbers. Holiday coos in a limpid falsetto over languid tempos and unobtrusive production, while emphasizing utilitarianism ("Turn up the radio/So you can yell as loud as you want")...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
This Washington, D.C.-based newcomer isn't coy about his biggest influence in Back of My Lac': "Come Here" finds J. Holiday wistful about days of yore, "bumping and grinding on some R. Kelly s---." Sure enough, he does his best Kellycroon here, whether lending his creamy tenor to an oversexed slow jam ("Bed"), a tough-talking street lecture ("Thug Commandments"), or a tender love song ("Without You")...
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
Look, I have nothing against speech impediments; I've proudly spoken with one for over ten years. I've been subject to ridicule from countless assholes. At first, it was hard for me to ask guheurls out because of my troublesome r's, but I've since overcome my fear.
So in some minor way, I guess I relate to J Holiday, D.C.'s lisp-burdened R&B; singer. But that's not to say I agree with his upfrontedness...
- www.stylusmagazine.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
When it's on, the debut from D.C. native J. Holiday offers some sweet, passive pleasures. For a handful of hot cuts, Holiday turns out brash, hook-centric R&B; that complements silky singing with some fine beats: The bumping "Ghetto" underpins Holiday's insistent sermon on underclass misery with Santana guitar, congas and lite funk, and "Thug Commandments" is an ultrawarm thing with an ace chorus and D'Angelo-worthy falsettos...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-03-21
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