Rapper You Need To Know: Dosage

A lot of times here on Hip Hop Unlimited I might discuss a rapper that already has a ton of shine, but maybe one that I hadn't really given the time of day until now. You could argue that this is one of those times, though the rapper I am about to discuss has an interesting story that doesn't include as much mainstream success. If you've ever heard a feature verse that was so incredibly dope, though you'd never heard of the rapper before once in your entire life up until that point, you might say I experienced this listening to just 2 tracks with this guy. The mystery surrounding Dosage (at least for me) is something I wish I could understand. Why don't we have some more dope music from this guy?

If you haven't heard of the Philadelphia bred rapper, Dosage is an up and coming (or was an up and coming) emcee who has tons of talent that somehow hasn't panned out into mainstream success quite yet, although he's gotten a couple of cosigns from Lupe Fiasco, and was also a guest on Lupe's 2010 "Stepping Lasers" tour which also included B.o.B. He's got a very strong, distinct voice that commands attention, and when you hear his bars you can't help but wonder what's next. And so comes my first time hearing Dosage...

                                         (Dosage's verse starts at exactly the 6 minute mark)

This song could be an attention grabber due to the amazing beat and all star cast (All City cast I suppose you should say), but the first time that 6 minute mark hit, I felt like I was listening to the next great rapper. Obviously the kid had to have proved something to be featured on a Lupe Fiasco song, not just 1 but 2 ("Friend of the People" off of Lupe's mix tape of the same name as well). "Friend of the People" is a great display of Dosage's range (and rage, perhaps) as a rapper and shows off a lot more of his personality than you hear on his "I'm Beaming (Remix)" verse. Listening to both of these songs, however, you don't get the best feel for what "Dose" (my new nickname for him) is really about. So this meant I had to do some more digging, of course.

Dose has a total of 4 mix tapes listed on DatPiff (though none are listed as official releases), one of which being a tape by the name of It, released in 2011. It certainly is what you thought it was (or not), a mix tape made up of entirely Nas instrumentals, and the intro to each track includes a snippet from the movie (hence the name "It"). Being new to Dose this tape is certainly an easy way to get into him, you hear Dosage rap over Nas classics like "Hate Me Now" and "It Ain't Hard To Tell", and it certainly is a great sign to hear up and comers paying homage to some of the greats such as Nas.

His next tape however, 3d11, is a step up from It as it includes more original material over original production. His lyrical prowess and his flow reach an all time high, and it's hard to argue that he doesn't hit his peak when you hear tracks like "Which Way", "LVLA", and the old school sounding "Notorious Remix" which features production from DJ Jazzy Jeff (yes, that DJ Jazzy Jeff). In some of his tracks you can hear a bit of a rock influence it sounds like, and this is pretty noticeable on the track "3D11", which stresses Dosage's 3 D's to live by: dream, drive, and determination.

So to sum this up, you definitely need to deed your day by dosing up a dose of Dosage's dopeness. He caught my ear listening to just 2 tracks, and now I'm wondering what I'm going to hear next from the guy. Though he doesn't go by the name "Dosage" anymore (I've found him on Twitter and Sound Cloud as "Dayne Jordan"), he certainly does give you a dope dose of emceeing (too much? Alright then) and a big portion of his tracks actually feature production from DJ Jazzy Jeff, so that's a reason to look into him. The only wonder now is what is Dosage really doing?  His last full length release dates back to 2012 (2 mix tapes that year actually), and he's only putting out songs on Sound Cloud about once every month or so. One can only hope he gets what he's trying to do right, and doesn't turn out to be the next Jay Electronica.