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REVIEW 01
Lyrics: 4.0
Beats: 3.5
DL Incognito has been holding down for the canadian hip hop scene for nearly the entire decade and here he brings us his 4th LP "A Caputred Moment in Time". To me one of DL's main strengths is how he is down to earth and he sounds like he could be one of my homeboys. The stuff he spits about is "normal guy hip hop", he's not a gangster nor does he get political, he's just about everyday life type of shit. I guess one could critize this album for being too regular, it's not really original as it follows all the hip hop basics. The production is pretty standard "underground hip hop" and DL spits in a very traditional way like a Nas would do. What makes it all good is the emotion/soul factor, it's quite clear that DL put his heart in all of these tracks and it's very easy to get drawn into the songs with such passion. The beats are not mindblowing but they are dope, they give DL enough space to go off and do his thing. It's a very consistant LP at 45 minutes with only 12 songs, there isn't a wasted moment and the album just flows so well. Actually I'm quite surprised at how good this is and how DL managed to still grow as an artist even on his 4th album, the typical rapper usually falls off on the 3rd album cause he's running out of things to say and/or goes with the safe commercial route but DL Incognito avoided both of these traps. The timing of the album is perfect, the vibe goes very well with the recent hot weather and I would definitely recommend this one to all my canadian hip hop heads!
REVIEW 02
3.5/5
The Canadian hip-hop scene has come a long way. I remember when it first started getting some hype when Maestro Fresh Wes hit the Toronto scene. I had Black Tie Affair on cassette, it was my starting point for rap music in the year that most people were digging Hammer and Ice and late night Arsenio Hall. Then we had Tom Green's rap group Organized Rhyme winning Junos and Dream Warriors made heavy rotation on MuchMusic. Then it all just sort of went away and went underground. Canadian rap became a regional thing - the Maritime hip-hop of Classified (who I've met and is a really nice dude and puts on a fun live show, although I don't much dig his albums), or Torontonian hip-hop by our own superstar K-os , lunatic comedy shit by Chilly Gonzales (and his electro soulmate Peaches ), cross-Canada hip-hop legends-to-be like Buck 65 , and local scene heroes like Swollen Members (Mad Child used to hang out flexing and showing off his muscles at my buddy's video store). We've come a long way.
DL Incognito is part of the burgeoning new Ontario scene which is pretty much an extension of what Maestro was putting down fifteen years ago, with an old school vibe to it, funk/soul/jazz samples, positive vibes and classical flow. Lots of crackling brass strikes and funky breaks, plus sampling The Guess Who 's classic national hit "Sour Suite" on "Too Late Now" which is a very reflexively Canadian moment. A Captured Moment in Time is a pretty good album. It comes on strong with an engaging opening few tracks, and while it falls off a bit in the midsection, it regains balance with the storming "Air Play" and rolls out on a high, with a sincere thank you to all supporters and a look back on the past decade of growth. Nothing new but positive and resolutely Canadian, which is refreshing.
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