D.P.

As modern hip-hop disappears up its own arse in a self-indulgent fug of Auto-tune, medallions, slick whips and giant egos, it’s refreshing to find someone who sounds like he simply wants to get in front of a crowd to sing, rap and play his piano in a relaxed fashion. As D.P. says in Simple Dude, ‘Gimme that brew, gimme that weed, a little bit of ass is all that I need.’ Who can argue with that? D.P.’s fast-paced delivery is defiantly uncommercial and dextrous, something like a calmer Louis Logic perhaps. The problem is, there are 17 tracks, and they really start to become indistinguishable towards the end. They mostly follow a similar ‘looped piano chord, beats start, rapping starts, singy chorus’ formula, and as a result some of the observant and pertinent rhymes become lost in the mix. D.P.’s clearly a man of talent, but perhaps he needs a little more variation on his palette.[Euan Ferguson]

- www.theskinny.co.uk

We all know Saigon and Statik Selektah did an album in 24 hours. D.P, an emcee/producer out of Gainsville Florida, is a one man band. Back in March, he did an album in 48 hours, all documented via a series of YouTube videos. If you don’t check out the videos, definitely check out the album. I’m listening to it now, and it’s one I’ll be keeping on my ipod for a while.

- KevinNottingham.com

While a great deal of talented artists have yet to put out a complete collection of new material (as opposed to peacemeal mixtapes largely recycling popular beats), d.p. puts them to shame with "fortyeighthours.," named for the amount of time it took to write, produce and record the 11-track album with the purpose of calling attention to his official debut later this year. Now, a boast like that from an artist is just asking for the product to be called unpolished or rushed. Well, it's not.

d.p. resides in Gainesville, Florida, a hip hop scene I'm only familiar with via (the incredibly dope) CYNE, but has a sound that can't really be classified as "southern" or "Floridian." His self-produced beats are often driven by piano loops and quiet drum patterns, extremely simple and yet perfectly functional. Perhaps the most impressive quality d.p. displays is his uncanny ability to write and sing affecting, catchy hooks. There are thousands of American rappers who can spit a hot sixteen, but so few who can write a chorus worth hearing. And these hooks really shouldn't work; d.p.'s not an especially good singer, but he never attempts any notes he can't safely hit and never forces too much information into the lines. Keep it simple, stupid—if you can't foresee fans chanting it at a concert, your hook probably sucks. d.p. knows this and lives by it.

Now how the fuck's the kid's actual rapping? Well, as smooth and simple as his hooks. While not an especially exceptional lyricist, d.p. can flow rather effortlessly and is reasonably successful at getting across his message (which is for the most part that he loves smoking/drinking/fucking, but put much more poetically). Basically he's your average white-collar MC speaking on easily relatable subjects. I should also mention that he sounds a LOT like Joe Budden when he's rapping, though he's not nearly as lyrically complex or angry at the world.

As you might expect but not really consider, the album is remarkably cohesive, both something of a blessing and a curse. It's great to hear a hip hop album that actually maintains its sonic and lyrical themes throughout, but the songs on "fortyeighthours." are at times too similar to each other, to the point where it's difficult to distinguish one piano loop from the next. A gentle criticism for an album that took only two days to finish.

If forced to point out particular standout tracks, just about the entire first half is very good, as the production has yet to seem too repetitive. Opening track "The Mirror" has one of the best hooks, while "Lettin It Go" features what is probably d.p.'s best rapping performance, ending his reminiscent verse, "Like the first time we touched, I'm always chasin' for that // I take it straight, don't need no chaser for that!" The last joint, "Hope I Wake Up Tomorrow" is something of a quietly beautiful swan song, with d.p. musing on his life and hopes for the future over a beat that is hardly more than some drums and a few guitar strums.

Needless to say, if d.p. can put together something as solid as this in 48 hours, it will be interesting to see what he can put together in several months for his official debut.

- RapReviews.com

If you’ve been rocking a little existential dread lately, well, you’re not alone—this newly-released record finds Florida emcee and Booth newcomer D.P. staring into The Mirror at the lines on his face, struck by the realization that he and everyone he knows will inevitably age and die. It’s bleak, but those can handle the dark subject matter will undoubtedly appreciate the brutally real, bluntly poetic lyricism the up-and-comer brings to a topic that most (if not all) of us us have contemplated at one point or another. On the production tip, D.P. wisely provides a spoonful of sugar to temper the downbeat lyrical content; centered around uptempo percussion and catchy spaghetti-Western guitar riffs, the driving instrumental keeps things “movin’ and movin’ and movin’” along. If you’re wondering what else D.P. has on his mind, download a copy of fortyeighthours, a newly-released, 11-track album created in one nonstop, two-day recording session.



Read more: http://www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/review/d.p.-the-mirror/#ixzz0W6IX2Wwr
- djbooth.net

Rarely has an album been so aptly titled as D.P.'s 'Bar Tab Blues.' Meshing hip-hop with a bar-room blues aesthetic D.P.'s latest release has manages to bring a touch of classic Americana to his hip-hop as he deals with topics that have an everyman appeal. Whether he is drinking, taking drugs or falling in and out of love D.P. does so with the swagger of a man who has spent time propping up dusty bars and looking into the bottom of his glass while playing a jukebox. D.P. doesn't bring glorious tales of hustling or the street life, instead opting for a less glamorous approach - as summed up in his track, 'Simple Dude.' However, that is not to say that D.P. doesn't tackle issues with an air of melancholy fantasy as shown in the dark tale of love betrayed and revenge that is, 'Pawn Shop Gun.' With an air of the Fun Lovin Criminals and the gritty literature of Hunter S. Thompson D.P. owes as much to the likes of Johnny Cash as he does Rakim. While the album is certainly hip-hop orientated D.P.'s style seems him sing as much as he rhymes as he carries his own hooks and choruses. Yes, D.P. espouses a losing mentality as his music sees him seeking consolation in the bottle and escapism in drugs and easy sex, but there is little glorification as shown perfectly on 'Wish I Knew.' Gritty realism seeps through D.P.'s accomplished album to deliver something that should certainly see acclaim as it grows in the telling. The only trick will be turning his morose yet engaging worldview into sales while pop culture seems caught up with all that glitters rather than the muddy realism that D.P.'s 'Bar Tab Blues' offers.

- GrindModeConnect.com

Apparently Mister D.P. can't make up his mind whether to capitalize his name or not. When Guido Stern first covered "fortyeighthours" last May, everything including the album's title was presented in lowercase. I honestly get a little sick of these games, including Daniel Dumile's "ALL CAPS when you spell the man name" and the "let's show how unassuming, shy and nerdy I am" lower caps of mc chris. Don't even get me started on Kid Cudi - I refuse to play that shit and alternate it every other letter - that's fucking impossible to type. This is completely my own opinion and nothing to do with the review, but unless you've had a few platinum records and can be recognized on sight anywhere you go, you don't get to change your name to an eponymous unprounceable symbol, forcing everybody to refer to you as "The Artist Formerly Known As." If you're rich and famous, go ahead, be a weirdo. If you're an up-and-coming artist nobody has heard of, follow the damn rules.

At least D.P. makes up for his indecision with a modicum of talent. Stern noted that he was looking forward to what D.P. came up with if his teaser album was literally recorded within the self-titled 48 hour timespan. It's safe to say "Bar Tab Blues" is a successful and well-produced follow up, which eschews an intro and bullshit skits and gets straight into a bluesy Elton John piano vibe on "I Ain't Crazy." Now usually if you have to explain that you're NOT crazy, there's a good chance that your behavior and demeanor are such that most people would think you are to begin with. Guess what though? Trying to succeed as a solo rapper on a tiny independent label when the only buzz you have is the one you got from a comped bar tab at some shitty hole in the wall show IS crazy. D.P. is bucking the million-to-one odds that he'll make it to the big time, and as long as he's going for broke he's at least taking the time to do it the right way with good beats and a flow I can't hate.

"One two, let me start it right I address this shit with a FUCK YOU
And sign it all sincerely me, it's never been so clear to me
You can have that back, I know exactly what I'm here to be
You was never hearin me, D.P. on that heresy
See me speakin blasphemy like Jesus Christ they after me
And you can have that back BITCH just give me back the half of me
Dealin with the devil I'm just bein what I have to be
I ain't mad at the world, I just feel the world's so mad at me
I've been so buried under bullets and bar tabs
Barflies with scars and scabs know where my heart's at
Hard liquor, allathat, hard-on for a heart attack
And we was punk kids with two dime bags and a quarter sack
Somethin wrapped in plastic then stashed under the mattress
Never felt like danger 'til the day it's turnin drastic
Never felt like lovin 'til the day somebody snatched it
Never felt so tough until the day you get your ass kicked"

D.P. clearly isn't crazy, unless being observant about the world around you is a sign of insanity. There's a slight hint of Slug to what D.P. is doing here, not in terms of his lyrical complexity or mic control intensity, but in terms of the dichotomy he walks between making something intensely personal that's still meant to be consumed by a mainstream audience. It's the self-produced beats that help D.P. stay grounded and keep the album from simply being a diary of poetry next to the lamp on the nightstand. The lead single "Hollow" finds D.P. playing the Everlast role on the hook, and he's far from the worst singer in hip-hop, loping along over a jazzy piano bar melody. There are dark songs too, as "Pawn Shop Gun" is a believably angry tale of revenge against an unfaithful girlfriend where "blood stains gon' cover up the love stains." More often than not though D.P. is "Lost in the Music," finding solace in creating raps that evoke a curiously effective mixture of Big B's white trash rap and the cocky swagger of Flo Rida.

There's a flipside to my praise of D.P.'s "Bar Tab Blues" though, which is that D.P. may have overplayed sticking to the theme he titled the album with. At some point every single song starts to blend together, and you can picture yourself at that hole in the wall drinking cheap $2 beers listening to some rapper you never heard of as the opening act. You don't hate what he's doing, but the beats and the singing start to blend together, and at some point you wish he'd sample some P-Funk or AC/DC, or freestyle over some Alchemist and Polow Da Don beats, because every single song seems to be him rapping to piano ivories. If you listen to "Street Lights" and "Wish I Knew" and can remember which is which a half hour later, I'm impressed. The same goes for the slow-paced and soulful "One Day" and the "up and down and turned around" crooning of "Let Me Go." I'd kill to hear D.P. change it up a little bit, because clearly he's a capable producer, lyricist AND verbalist, and it's rare enough to be 2 out of the 3 let alone 1. "Bar Tab Blues" could certainly give them to you after 17 tracks, because D.P. is pretty damn good, but a shorter album with more variety in topic and production would be even better.
- rapreviews.com