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On his grind 24/7, singer/rapper/producer/drummer Jared Evan is in a good place as far as being an independent artist goes. Scrap that. He’s in a great place. Before all this #NewRules business, sparked off by Jay Z and his Magna Carta Holy Grail album, Evan was already making his own rules. With his own personal street teams in place, email sign ups for free albums, and gifts for his fans who promote his brand, he’s already ahead of the game thanks to his loyal following.

Leaving behind the majors a few years back in order to pursue and express his own creative talent without being told what to do and how to do it, Evan’s consistent level of quality music has seen him pop up on a fair amount of peoples radars as of late. Following his critically acclaimed Statik Selektah collaborated album Boom Bap & Blues, he now drops new EP Pieces.

As the title suggests, this is more than just a singular offering. Like pieces to a puzzle, it’s a journey through love, life, and Hip Hop. Recounting his early years, everything from Cinnamon Toast and Sega Genesis are on the table with ‘Reminisce’. Working as Evan’s ode to the classic Pete Rock & CL Smooth cut ’They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)’ (peep the sample at the end of the record), head nodding comes as standard thanks to the addictive drum loop.

The more you listen to his music the more you realise that Jared Evan is just a film buff with a penchant for combining the arts. Keeping it authentic, fans are again treated to a few cinematic hidden meaning gems. When Big screen meets beat machine on both ‘Sloane’ and ‘Jenny’, there’s more to them than just being about a girl. While ‘Sloane’ is slightly more obvious, and it may indeed reference Ferris Bueller’s love interest from the famous 80s flick Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but it’s more about getting away from the world and answering to no one than anything else. ‘Jenny’ on the other hand hears Evan opt for a more serious line of influence. Spitting unfortunate tales of a girl misunderstood over a delicate soundscape designed to pull at listeners heartstrings, the drop in tempo and ocean deep subject matter compares itself to Jenny Curran’s misguided steps in the movie Forrest Gump.

Features are kept to a minimum with Illmind helping Evan to produce the EP. Chiddy Bang is the only other name associated with the project popping up on the teen team builder ‘Never Graduated’. Dipped in keys and sanded down with a distorted vocal presence, an important life lesson about being able to achieve ones dream no matter when a person taps out of education is learned on this one. Long in length with serious sing-a-long qualities, another movie moment is revealed thanks to Justin Long’s character speech from fan favourite Accepted.

Garnering more and more fans as the days go on, Jared Evan’s music speaks to a wide demographic of music lovers. Culturally able to relate to older fans of traditional Hip Hop due to experiencing a few started-from-the-bottom moments himself - something Hip Hop was built upon - and largely accepted by the youth of today because of his own age and his own interests in today’s expansive movements and technologies, Pieces sits on both sides of the fence comfortably. It may not be as strong as Boom Bap & Blues, but it tees up his next album nicely.