David Dallas never felt comfortable with a rap name, he never introduced himself by it although the name had seen considerable success in 2003. It was the moniker to which hip hop heads around the country spoke when talking of the next big local hip hop artist of 2004, the name sprawled across the liner notes of numerous albums in ‘05, and the name which he would eventually put to rest in 2006. He admits the change from Con-Psy to his born name may have led to confusion for some listeners.
Even so David Dallas has been at the forefront of New Zealand rap music for the most part of this decade. His catalogue spans six years, including two full-length projects alongside producer 41(Nick McLaren) under the banner Frontline, last years Something Now EP, numerous featuring spots with the likes of Breakin Wreckwordz and Move The Crowd artists, and now in 2009, a debut solo album confidently titled Something Awesome.
The creative process for the album started in 2007 but changed in 2008 when Dallas penned the album’s second single ‘Big Time’. Already with a handful of tracks that were to be used for the project, he says they didn’t quite seem to fit the sound ‘Big Time’ presented. Still he didn’t want them to be disregarded, and with fans demanding material it was a simple decision to release the ‘Something Now’ EP via digital download.
“Initially I put out ‘Get Out The Way’, and at that point I was still like this will be a good street thing for the first release from the record and because I hadn’t had anything out for ages I just wanted to give it to these people who’d been waiting for ages. So when I put that out I still had in mind that it was gonna be on the record, but come late last year, I had stuff that was in this vein and a bunch of stuff that was older that was outside of it”.
The aim was to then create the rest of his debut solo album, and by enlisting help in the form of reputable local beatmakers, studio musicians and vocalists the album was ready for its August 31 release.
Something Awesome, at 12 songs strong, reveals his reflective side on tracks like ‘Slow Down’ while providing the knock on hard hitting joints like ‘Front to Back’ and ‘In The Mood’, while the upbeat feel of ‘I Get the Feelin’ and ‘Never Met’ keep the dancefloor happy. Beat responsibilities are evenly divided between 41 and Dirty affiliate duo Fire & Ice. Dallas recorded at either 41’s or Evan Short’s studio with Short mixing and mastering the final project.
“When it came to the mix and master it was a writing process in itself”, says Dallas, “there was heaps of live instrumentation, we had to get all these singers and session vocalists in, Jeremy Toy played on one, Mz. J did session vocals, Arradnah, and that stuff was all done between March and up until two weeks ago. The album master was delivered two weeks ago.”
The album is laced with New York stylings and sample-driven conceptual boom-bap. The quality of hip hop is bold in its direction and unafraid to vear away from mainstream radio formats. Instead Dallas prefered to take a new approach to garner interest in his music, and his recent trip to perform at SXSW aided this move as he explains.
“Just before I went to SXSW ‘Indulge Me’ got put up on (US blogs) OnSmash and WorldStarHipHop and (UK DJ) Semtex’s blog and that was a real good platform because when I went over there I could talk to dudes and they knew who the fuck I was and I got to meet a few of the bloggers. It’s almost like (blogs) are the new Source and XXL (magazine), those guys are gonna be the gatekeepers, they’ve got just as much clout as those magazines used to have. I noticed as soon as ‘Indulge Me’ went on OnSmash, within 10 minutes it was on WorldStarHipHop, and after that it was France, Romania, boom, boom, boom. Just this morning the ‘Big Time’ video got blogged on the Smoking Section with a proper write up. It’s been going up on blogs all week.”
Amongst other posts from July 30th on The Smoking Section website, David Dallas’ ‘Big Time’ video sat on the page seemingly out of place, but in a perfect position to be exposed to a wider international market. TSS blogger K1NG said of the single, “If this song is any indication of what’s to come from Mr. Dallas (and his previous hit “Indulge Me” ), then you can consider my ears open in the future”. Below comments read like “probably the best thing to come out of NZ since Peter Jackson and Jonah Lomu”, and “tight beat, tight rhymes, tight video”, proving the international standard of his music.
Both videos accompany Something Awesome’s first singles were directed by Joel Kefali, who has previously worked on songs like Cut Off You Hands ‘Still Fond,’ Dimmer’s ‘Degrees of Existence’ and The Naked And The Famous’ ‘Serenade.’ Dallas says the director was a perfect fit and he consequently contracted Kefali for the album’s artwork to bring a consistent visual aesthetic to the project.
“I can communicate with him, and I like what he does. We like the same sort of shit, he grew up skating as well as me, and we think the same things are cool, he definitely has the right vision for what I’m tryna do.”
The direction, sound and artistic integrity of this album suggests David Dallas has released the body of work his public have anticipated for some time. With a jump on Kiwi musicians in terms of digital marketing and international connections, his reputation as a solo artist not only grows stronger with this release but more widely recognised, with further opportunities in overseas markets and taking his music further afield, it seems the once ever-present Con-Psy pseudonym, is once and for all, a distant memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQyeNHwOTC0
What are the words … super, excellent phrase