Review abortmag DL INCOGNITO - A Captured Moment in Time Reported by: Dave “Corvid” McCallum Ottawa’s finest drops his fourth album amidst great expectations and the result is an honest, soul-searching document of emotions and experiences that falls short only due to lukewarm production and a rhyme flow with little variation or complexity. “Claim to Fame” opens with a sample straight off of the muzak in the mall, all jazzy guitar and strings. With DL’s cadence and tone clearly indebted to Pharoahe Monch, it’s obvious that he’s reaching for the same soulful vibes Monch hit on his latest release Desire. Perhaps it would work if DL had better taste in jazz. “Grand Scale” tries to follow with something harder, but the beat is still far too weak and typical (not to mention sounding five years dated), like a watered down Alchemist outtake. “Too Late Now” aims for nostalgia with the piano ballad sample and actually succeeded in getting stuck in my head despite the cheese factor. “Made it Through” rocks the kind of Alvin and the Chipmunks sample that drives me to drink… more. I swear if this style doesn’t disappear soon then I’m gonna hafta get Simon and Theodore off the pipe and into the studio too. “Atmosphere” featuring Theology 3 displays some eloquent flows from both MC’s, and stands out for its energy level. Seriously, it’s like I half feel this album - the sincerity is there, the skill is there, and after a while and some booze I can even kinda feel the lounged out “Love Boat” style of the production. It’s just the persistent New Yawk vowels, the self preoccupation (with little substance to back it up), the sometimes trite rhyming and the boring-ass beats make me feel like this is the kind of competent yet derivative Canadian Hip Hop that barely makes a blip on the radar south of the Border. Not that that is all important for authenticity either, it’s just that the most Canadian thing about DL is his inoffensiveness, which is hardly a cultural trait that I want to perpetuate.