Dmo

Here I Go is the first wave from Southern California artist Dmo, the EP preceding the army that is to be Roofless California. Focusing on the production, cadence, and lyrical dexterity is one way to go about this; however, we can keep that part short and just let you know that all that is there. Focusing rather on the themes and flow of the project as a whole. This is a tale unique to places like southern California. Glitz, pretty women, and sunshine at times masking the realities faced by a young man of conscious beset by the frailty of his own humanity.

“Don’t bury me in a casket.” “Aston17” is the second best song on the project. Smooth piano keys supported by minimal percussion interruption afford Dmo the opportunity to address the listener without fear of being misconstrued. Here, the artist in question is imploring the listener to not place him in the restrictive confines of expectations for someone of this age and of this art form. However, this particular joint also reads like a letter to himself, the younger, reckless, immature, and impressionable version of him. That letter is letting us know that love, in its sophomoric form is often tainted by selfishness and pride. Dmo expresses this in the most millennial way possible with his reference to sub tweeting a woman every day without actually expressing words. Perhaps that is point, that to live as if you are forever young is a double-edged sword. You are forever connected to the joy of your youth and at the same time prey to its puerile failings. One might question if it should have been placed at another point in the project given the understated nature of the intro track. However, it can’t be said enough how well this particular song was crafted from bars to production.

The best track on the album and the one that will probably get the most play on your workout playlists is “Tea and Coffee.” Just before assaulting our ears with a flawless delivery that wedded perfectly with the scintillating beat, Dmo let us know what it was, “I got plenty verses man.” Then begins to proceed to show off just how much he’s begun to get a handle on this rap thing. The track just bleeds California cool while at the same time adhering to the theme of a kid on his way, who is figuring out this puzzle called life as he does it.

Amidst the braggadocio that has since the beginning of rap been a standard, lays a stark honesty in this project, an acknowledgment of shortcomings. To contradict is the human condition, to in one breath laud the experience of pushing an all white Benz with the top down in the California sun, and then in the next give a thesis speech on the effect the love of money has on our society. That is a level of introspection and granted access behind the rope into the mind of an artist that we always ask for. Dmo does not have it all figured out but he is learning and growing. Frankly, being an artist in his 20s, it would ring false in the ears of his listeners if he came off any other way.

The question we have is for the next project. Will Dmo be able to reach further into the magician’s hat and pull out more than just a rabbit? For the rabbit is what we expect, but exceeding expectations is what separates the Mickey Factz’s from the Lupe Fiasco’s. Do you want to make a lasting impression? As listeners and consumers of hip-hop, we must carry ourselves as arbiters of the craft and demand for more than very good. This project isn’t perfect. Sequencing could have been better, more tone inflections/flow switches, and sonically you could ask for more sounds that hit. Yet make no mistake this is a very good piece of work, with moments of brilliance. This writer believes Dmo has not reached his ceiling yet, as he himself says, “the roof never close over here man,” and now we’re waiting to see what’s next.

– Jotham

You can stream and download Dmo’s project “Here I Go” at thisisdmo.com - JOTHAM KABUYE

In the Winter Issue, you can find DMOs' full Interview. Check out an excerpt below:

Q:
How do you handle all of the different aspects of the music process as an independent artist while remaining creative?
A:
For me it’s about trusting the process. As an independent artist you don’t have a lot of things. Probably the main thing being the financial backing. The resources, you can go out and network and sort of get resources where you can, but it’s difficult. I think for the type of music that I create, it also doesn’t require a lot of those things. Like a lot of my music isn’t necessarily those one hits that you need to make sure that every dj in the club can get a hold of. With artists like that, normally, that requires a lot of pushing one single, and campaigning to get that to different platforms. Mine, of course we want to get to other platforms and hopefully the music can speak for itself, but we still gotta go through those trials and tribulations trying to get it out to the people. For me, the upside of being independent is I can focus on my niche, my core. I think with my music, that’s what we’re looking for is a core. Somebody that’s going to ride with whatever we’re putting out.

Q:
In the mix of LA how do you stay yourself, and separate from everyone else?
A:
[man] I don’t try to stand out, to be honest. I try to be myself 100% so what that means is I gotta spend a lot of time by myself, learningabout myself. Learning about who I am, what’s important to me, what do I like. I’ve been forced to ever since I moved out here, I don’t know anyone. So I’ve been forced to spend a lot of time with myself and find out what’s important to me.

What I found is that; with solitude comes reflection. So you get these records of me reflecting on my upbringing and my life. I feel like if you can be the best version of yourself possible, then you’ll automatically stand out. That’s without trying. I feel like when you try to stand out it comes off corny, it comes off like you’re trying to be different, and there’s nothing wrong with trying to be different but try to be yourself, and by default you’re being different. I don’t think that requires a lot of effort. What requires a lot of effort to me is not being influenced by a lot of the things around you, like a lot of the music.
What is becoming to be known as rap is, you know, sometimes it finds itself to be all making one sound because different elements are being pulled. Nothing’s wrong with that because you might have liked this part of the element, you might have liked lyrics from this song, you might have liked the message from this song and kind of put it all together to create your own thing. I mean I find myself doing that too, but it’s more honing in what is me, who am I and by default I’ve created myself, my style. - Mason Taylor