Jazzy B’s music is more reliable than God. Sure, maybe he’ll change producers or background vocalists. Maybe he’ll sing about his car instead of a girl. Maybe he’ll throw a funky new dance move in or collaborate with an artist you didn’t expect. But these superficial differences don’t overshadow the one thing we can always rely on – Jazzy B’s music will consistently bring us hours of meaningless fun.

If you can’t tell, I’m a huge fan. I can mark the major stages of my life with whatever Jazzy B song was hot at that moment. So it’s no surprise to me that Jazzy B’s new song ‘Mitran da Boot’ is a sensation; at the time of writing, the duet with ‘Kaur B’ has over 2 million views on YouTube. It stars the talented Surveen Chawla who does a fabulous job lip-syncing to Kaur B’s powerful voice. With an opening dominated by an old school harmonium intro, the track is reminiscent of Punjabi duet albums from the 70s and 80s. Masterminded by the multifaceted producer/reggae artist Dr. Zeus, Mitran da Boot is very catchy.

Now here comes my critical side. It’s true that like every other hit song from Jazzy B ‘Mitran da Boot’ makes you want to party. But while listening to it these last few days I keep asking myself a serious question: is it time for Jazzy B to grow up? It seems like the dude’s musical sense is stuck in some gold encrusted tattoo parlour where they only let in gangster Punjabi guys and hot chicks under the age of 30. This latest song takes materialism and male versus female rivalry to a stupid level. Why are they arguing about whose outfit cost more? Do they have nothing else to say? Attentively listening to the lyrics of ‘Mitran da Boot’ makes me understand why Jazzy B has so much clout with Punjab’s Badal regime. The guy’s music never changes or challenges anything! It teaches us nothing new. Jazzy B sings to the status quo. (I know some die-hards will say he sticks up for the community like when he released a pro-Rajoana video in 2012. My reply is that Jazzy B only jumped on that bandwagon after every other Sikh person did it first.)

I’m not asking Jazzy B to change everything about himself. After all he knows better than me about what makes a smashing Punjabi song. He’s already had hit after hit. He’s already sold out concerts. But I was sincerely hoping Jazzy B’s first track not produced by Sukhshinder Shinda would give me something more meaningful. A duet with ‘Kaur B’ could’ve sent a wonderful message about a male-female relationship based on mutual respect and love. The last thing the Punjabi Diaspora needs is more encouragement to impress one another with name brands and gold, especially considering how tacky most of that stuff is. I think Jazzy B could’ve really stepped up his game in 2014 but he has patently failed. I give his latest song a regretful 2 out of 4 stars.