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Subject | Dwele

By Nirav ⋅ August 28, 2008 ⋅

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If you’ve heard of Dwele, its most probably in reference to when he sang the hooks for Kanye West’s song Flashing Lights on Graduation (2007). That was Dwele’s official break, though he had a few singles that made it into the radio waves and DJ booths far before. My introduction to this obnoxious soul artist was in 2003 when I was in college and heard Find A Way playing at a D.C. lounge. That introduced me to a neosoul, laid back, and conscious artist who produced a solid soul album entitled Subject (2003).

This album has the basic qualities of a classic neosoul album. It has very simple jazzy beats, talks about love and relationships, and utilizes a few quality backup singers that create a melodic mood. But that doesn’t make this album quality. It’s the unique qualities that Dwele personally brings to Subject that really put this album on the map for the soul genre. Make sure to check out tracks like Find A Way (featured above), Truth, and A.N.G.E.L. (feat. Slum Village). They are classic tracks that will really get you on the path to experience Dwele’s full skill sets. He also has:

Smart Lyrics: It’s not just conscious. Its lyrics that just make you say in your head, “yes … that makes so much sense” or “you got that right”. My friend Stacy came up with the term and it defines the new trend among upcoming quality artists.
Great Voice Range: He can go from very deep low notes to some pretty high range notes. Not like Amel Larrieux high notes, but great for a guy singer. And he varies it pretty well on all his songs so that he doesn’t get stuck in one range like many R&B or Pop singers.
Well Played Live Instruments: You can’t beat the sound of seeing an artist like this live. Pre-recorded beats and digital instruments can’t recreate the mood and ambiance you feel. So it’s important to get quality live instruments into the recording to really bring the performance as close as it can to something you would hear live. Make sure to check out Dwele’s on VH1 Soul.

I recommend this album to anyone who really appreciates vocals and those generally interested in soul music and don’t know where to start. Dwele is a relatively young artist and will be taking over the neosoul scene in a few years (seeing that Bilal and a few others are starting to hit their peak, no disrespect). I understand this won’t get on everyone’s list, but we here at Obnoxious Listeners just care about talking about quality music. And this is just one more album for your ears!

Dwele Music | MySpace | Wikipedia