Essjay The Afrocentric Ratchet “Blick Back” Music Video Review
Review and photos by: Patrick Axovius, Writer @Sanfeon
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner/Editor @melodicnoisemedia
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Essjay The Afrocentric Ratchet
With a cool, bold confidence, Essjay The Afrocentric Ratchet stamps her identity like a mantra over hypnotic 808s that pulse beneath choir-like hymns. On “Blick Back,” a track off the project Somewhere in the AP, she transforms the past into lyrical smoke signals. Throwing shots at old flames and rivals, turning scars into souvenirs, all from within a clustered mart universe that we dive into through a periscope lens.
Armored in street elegance, Essjay's look is a perfect balance of glam and grit. A gold chain catches the light, her dreads are knotted like an edgy version of ponytails, and her makeup frames her countenance in a spotlight that keeps eyes fixed on her fluid expressions. She's dressed fly but readyyy..
Essjay’s persona is a potent duality: the hurt lover and the hardened soldier, with romance and revenge layered like bars in a cipher. This is rooted in the street-coded philosophy she wholly identifies with, using “Blick Back” to chastise those who break its rules. A line like, “I ain't never gonna fight the h*e to do it back,” is not just a lyrical composite but a belief that blurs the line between acting tough and simply surviving, which may be the entire point.
Essjay clearly doesn’t need a million-dollar video budget; she runs on pure aura. The setting is her corner store kingdom of brick walls and corner blocks, filmed with a guerrilla charm. The camera stutters, glitches, and flips through the air like it's having a seizure of style. This is rhythmic chaos, and she’s the choreographer. She owns every jagged frame, turning a cramped supermarket into her personal arena. With a smirk that could curdle milk, she drops a grenade wrapped in gloss: “I’ve been told y’all b*tches, y’all can’t rap.” This is her brand of street scripture, hood glamour served with a side of intentional crudeness and disdain.
Her body language bridges femme flair and street grit—a petty dance here, a dominant stance there. She knows when to play soft, when to strike bold. Confidence, not performance, drives the rhythm.
She maps trauma and instinct honed by experience into tempo and it shines in lines like, “Try to run a little oop on me. Had to know I would never fall for that.” Every bar feels earned.
Her cadence is crisp, flow dynamic, and delivery personal. She doesn’t rap like she’s reciting; she raps like she’s reliving.
What makes Essjay stand out is her precision, lyrical firepower, and narrative charm that compels you to listen to her story and grievances. She does a lot with little. Minimal scenes, maximum intent. The camera follows her, but she commands it, proving that a story doesn’t always need spectacle, only conviction.
Keep up with Essjay The Afrocentric Ratchet’s lifestyle and music on Instagram and Soundcloud.