Album Reviews

Dual Consciousness | Dahlak Brathwaite

By Nirav ⋅ August 6, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

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Dahlak is one obnoxious artist. He’s an emcee, a poet, an actor, and I think he has a little comedian inside him too. Though his claim to fame to date has been his unique style of def poetry, Dahlak’s first exploration of his musical talent can be vividly seen in his debut album Dual Consciousness (2007). And I think it’s a awesome.

It’s not revolutionary Immortal Technique type of hip hop, it’s not old school slow flow type of hip hop, and it’s also not mainstream hip hop in any manner. Instead its a combination of hip hop forms that is more fresh with simple and smooth flow and a little two sided in terms of lyrical content. At times it feels like you’re listening to a Fabolous track when you here My Baby and then you hear a momentum filled mind mover like Move which reminds you of a Talib Kweli track. Perhaps that’s why this album was named Dual Consciousness since it does a good job of reflecting Dahlak’s both sides.

My drunken slumber got me waking often ailing
hung over like Michael Jackson’s baby off the railing

One of my favorite tracks is a no-beat verse entitled The Club. It’s tells the ironic story and evolution of our current dance club/lounge atmosphere and entry policies. While hip hop seems to drown the noise inside, its people and it’s culture are not accepted on the inside. No hats, no baggy pants, no sneakers. And while hip hop music was constructed by a dominant culture and race, that race itself is socially excluded from access into its premises. But even though we all know this, we still want to gain entry into this environment. Ain’t that some shyt! Reminds me of something else that Dahlak wrote called A Peculiar Evolution.

Just cuz I’m the one
won don’t mean I never loss
Baby, I ain’t perfect,
it’s just I got better flaws

This album also has a few tracks which are a good collaboration of hip hop and rock. I have attached one of these tracks in the audio sample above by name of Coincidence. And though I’ve heard rock on other hip hop albums, this one is actually live music and not just a sample. I’ve seen videos of Dahlak perform live and he actually goes on with a full band. It’s interesting to see this in a hip hop crew outside the realms of The Roots. Not many people can pull this off well but Dahlak and his crew, Illiteracy, really seem to make it work for them.

In a few weeks, we’ll be posting a video interview with Dahlak and how he’s gotten to where he is currently. Stay tuned … 

Dahlak Music | MySpace | Facebook | Illiteracy Crew

Tags: hip hop