The Weekly Dip 10/28/22
Y’all already know, big tidal wavy tingz are always going down over here in these waters. It’d be unfair of us to not allow y’all some room to surf some of these wavez, to see if they rough enough to shake things up & leave a ripple effect on the listener mentally!
Dontae Smiley - Verbal Book (Video)
We got a thoro introduction to Dontae Smiley’s come up recently, where he explained the grind he’s been on where it put music for him on the back burner for a bit while he worked on different endeavors. He recently found himself behind the mic again when he released his incredible 11-track album titled “As I See It,” that’s full of determination and willpower for him to conquer any craft he deemed possible. Music has always been a gift for him; he found it as a venting session, and here he lets it all out. Dontae Smiley gave his record “Verbal Book,” the visual treatment recently, which provides us with a vivid look into his fears and his process to overcome them. I enjoy seeing an artist wear his heart on his sleeve as Dontae does in the record; he holds nothing back for the listeners to endure his pain and the path he traveled to see the light brush away from the darkness. He’s confided in us to hear his soul spill and hope we can find ourselves in better places to know we aren’t alone struggling too. You never know the next man or woman's story; put yourself in their shoes to see what they go through to get here; Dontae has been through it and made himself the champion we hear today. Don’t let one thing knock you down, or you’ll see yourself defeated more than winning. Dontae is ruthless with the pen; he’s sharp with the raps and spiritual with the wordplay; he’s a menace with rhythm with no knock in his hustle. Takeaway what you can from his music, and I guarantee you’ll be enlightened with much more guidance to succeed.
Riff Raff - Not Tom Cruise (Video)
In the middle of the week, Riff Raff shared a preview of an upcoming freestyle from him titled “Not Tom Cruise,” which would be dropping on Friday. The reason for the release was due to the issue of him getting mistaken as the Top Gun superstar whenever he goes. It’s a simple mistake, especially on how identical they both look to each other. Still, the fact is Jody Highroller is in a different league than the Mission Impossible actor and showcases it in the full-length release here. Feeling like Edgar Allen Poe in a turtleneck, the Neon Icon is seen star-studded as always, with the drip looking like a candy-painted stallion and the visual looking like a motion picture film. Riff Raff isn’t new to the eccentric style of raps; if anything, he’s one of the most notable examples of it; grills diamond dancing throughout the release is bringing in the cold front for the season while the igloo around his neck got him feeling freezing like the Batman villain. Expect to see more Riff Raff freestyles like this surface in the near future.
Eli Derby - wicked (Video)
I know we bring it up incessantly but, y’all wouldn’t stop bringing up how R&B is dead so we doing the same in insisting it isn’t, especially when you got newer artists like Eli here, who brings those elements to R&B people whine don’t really exist in today’s generation. You best believe there’s still music that details a man’s love for a woman, what most people call “simp”, as if it’s a bad thing. Upon the release of his debut EP, “More Than Friends”, we figured we’d take it back to the previously released visuals to “wicked”, one of the best cuts on this album. Now we know that title may deter listeners away cause it directly negates the kind of R&B y’all are pining over but trust me it doesn’t. It’s a sweet little ode about not willing to play these wicked games most men love to play when it comes to women they’re infatuated with. He only wishes to take his time, having a good time with her & getting to know her, as clearly exemplified in these giddily heartfelt visuals!
Steven King - Missed Calls (Video)
I love when an artist goes back into a past release to unleash a visual treatment to one of their best records, simply to remind listeners of the greatness that may have been overlooked or overshadowed. The title track to Steven’s 2020 release, produced by IDB is another prime example of Steven’s skills as a lyricist. You wouldn’t assume so being that it’s more in the melodic lane but he’s always been great at combining the two styles. He really do just be going in but infectiously so. The amount of bars that flood this record is exactly the kind of waviness we love over here! The editing in these visuals is as beautifully ethereal as the ephemeral number is. If you’re moving around, living your best life & putting in work like he is, you wouldn’t have time to answer any unwarranted calls either. You can’t even go to voicemail when it comes to trying to get a hold of him.
WHYJAE - AFTER HOURS (Video)
WHYJAE blessed us a few hours ago with another one of those ones & this one here, really showcases how skilled he is with the lyricism. I mean, off rip, we get hit with the crazy internal rhyme schemes & the heavy conversational lyrics don’t stop there, they just carry on throughout the record non stop! WHY welcomes the haters cause he knows damn well they’re only adding fuel to the fire in his flow the more unwarranted remarks they try to make about his presence in this game. It’s truly one to be reckoned with. Don’t get it twisted just because he has that melodic sense either, he’ll still chew your head off lyrically if need be & if records like this aren’t a prime example of that for you then you just playing dumb. You better give him the respect he’s owed or he’s simply just gonna pry it out of your hands, just to spit on it & hand it back to you cause he don’t need your validation.
PSALM X JAYAGEE - VICTORIOUS (Video)
A lot of your favorite R&B artists started out in the church & records like this are a prime example of that. It’s basically a Gospel record Psalm Williams has crafted here. It’s important that we highly herald records with powerful messages as such. If you’re not here trying to uplift people then what are you really doing? There’s a lot of people who feel powerless in this day & age but I guarantee when they hear the earnestness in Psalm’s soaring vocals here, they too will feel “Victorious”. He calls upon JAYAGEE as well to speak upon her own pain & struggles she’s had to endure in order to find the light in the end of the tunnel. May listeners bask in all the godly glory these record emits & allow that definition & scripture at the end of the video to resonate with your soul.
GREGNWMN - PEACE_PIECE (Video)
There’s nothing quite like music & artists who speak to truth to power throughout their art & GREGNWMN’s latest record “Break The Clouds”, speaks directly to that. On “PEACE_PIECE”, he draws the correlations between wanting peace but having to have his piece on him at all times in order to protect it, as much as he may not want to, he understands the necessity of it. Throughout this number, he stands alone, to give himself the room to breathe & let out all the anguish he feels having to take on the ills of this world we live in. A lot of people love to turn a blind eye to all the harsh realities we as a people face daily but not he, he’s here to shine the light directly on it, so as to, at the very least, spark the much needed conversations about these things. Music like such is important & should be taken seriously, especially in today’s climate.
Joey Cool feat King Iso - Idle Hands (Video)
“Idle Hands” are the Devil’s play things, didn’t the fallen angels tell you when they were weeping, begging you to not awaken the beasts in Joey Cool & King Iso? When it comes to heavy lyricism, nobody does it as consistently as the indie juggernauts over at Strange Music. Taken from his latest “Chairman of the Board” album, his 5th release under the imprint, Joey continues to prove that he alone is a force to be reckoned with. He brings the swankiness to Strange & the game as a whole in a way that nobody else truly can. And then you got King Iso, who most people are afraid to rap alongside & how could you blame them when he’s rapping at such elite levels? The amount of wordplay he packs into his rapid fire flows will scare away your favorite rappers, who can’t even hold a drip of a wax to his candle once it’s burning at both ends. This is just another example of how serious these brothers take this rap shit so you better come correctly when the idle hands are at play, they do this shit in their sleep & anybody hitting snooze on them cause it’s too much to bare, will get waken to death.