Dayne Jordan Drops New Single "Enormous"

Philadelphia native Dayne Jordan returned to the music scene today with his new single, titled "Enormous". The track finds Jordan flexing his lyrical muscles over a bouncy track that is sure to light up speakers anywhere. Along with the song, it appears Jordan also released the music video to accompany it, which you can check out below.

"Enormous" is definitely a change of pace for a prototype emcee like Jordan, whose use of jazz instrumentation normally dominates his songs, but it's nice to see him feeling himself and seemingly building up confidence, and ultimately starting on the right foot towards a new project. It's certainly been a minute since we've heard any new music from Jordan, who's last project came last year, In Transition.  There's no word on if Dayne is releasing an album just yet, but I shall keep y'all posted. Check out the video below.



 (*I do not own this video, song, or the rights to them*)

The Return Of The Fresh Prince: What I (And Maybe You) Want From Will Smith's Comeback Album

Will Smith, The Fresh Prince, is coming back to rap. Just let that sink in for a moment. I know I already posted about this several months ago, but seeing more news and rumors of Will Smith's comeback has really got me thinking about the possibilities. Now when you think of Will Smith and rap, you may think of his and Jazzy Jeff's "Summertime", you may think of "Welcome To Miami", or you may even think of "Gettin Jiggy With It", but based on some minor rumors buzzing about social media, we may be getting a different kind of Will Smith rap album. I'd like to detail what I'd like to see (and maybe what you'd like to see as well) from Will Smith's comeback album by expressing my thoughts, including some facts, and definitely some opinions on how Will Smith could make the most out of his planned comeback.

Now besides laughing at Meek Mill memes (which I think we've all been doing a lot of lately), Will Smith has been quite a social guy lately. He showed up to Drake's OVO Fest a couple of days ago and was very comfortable and close with Drake and Kanye backstage. What the three were talking about (besides Meek Mill) remains to be seen, but rumors on Twitter have surfaced that say Will Smith has not only been in the studio working on new music with Kanye, but with Drake as well!  Can't wait to see what these guys cook up. Now there are very few details about how Will's studio sessions with them have gone, but Will confirms working on new music below.

Will Smith also spoke about his album back in July on Jaden Smith's Beats 1 radio station, MSFTS Frequency, and also spoke about his recent studio time with Kanye West. Some quotes can be heard below from Complex.

                                         (*I do not own these videos or the rights to them*)

Interesting right?  Now one last thing I have to say that would be absolutely explosive, and only fitting for Will Smith's comeback rap album would be a DJ Jazzy Jeff collaboration (oh yes, that's right, Jazzy Jeff is still producing). Or even a couple of them would be nice!  Imagine DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince reuniting; it's only proper for Will's return!  Plus DJ Jazzy Jeff's recent work with Philly rapper Dayne Jordan could make for a pretty cool Philadelphia inspired collaboration on Will's album. Imagine Will and Dayne trading verses, paying homage to the city of brotherly love; it'd be one for the ages. I know how far fetched all of this sounds, but I can dream, can't I?

Hearing about Will Smith wanting to get in the studio and plan a rap comeback is a dream. Many people hate the clean rap that Will usually serves up, but NOONE has hate for Will Smith. I mean, how can you hate Will Smith?  Honestly... I'll wait. You can't hate the man!  He's an entertainer's entertainer!  It will definitely be interesting to see what Will and Drake and Kanye cook up. Hopefully Kanye doesn't try to change up Will's musical style (knowing how much Kanye changes his up), but Will rapping over some Kanye beats would be magical, almost fitting. Without knowing anything about Will and Drake's possible collaboration you'd probably think that it would be the first single (knowing Drake's feature verse power), but we'll just have to wait and see what happens. The return of the Fresh Prince is coming! 

The Memoirs Of Dayne Jordan Album Review

Now if you'd need to know anything about my post topics, anything at all, it would be that I absolutely do not do promo for up and comers who think they are the shit unless I actually believe that they will blow (although I've yet to have anybody hit me up about doing an article promoting themselves). A man by the name of Dayne Jordan (who I posted about back in November of last year, formerly known as Dosage) has accomplished a lot since the last time I posted about him. He came out with a free, 9 track EP named In Progress, he put out his phone number on twitter for his fans to keep in touch with him, and now he's back from a short hiatus to deliver you his free album, the aptly titled The Memoirs Of Dayne Jordan. Needless to say, the man has been working. Now if you read the last post about Dayne (or if you keep up with him regularly), you'd know that Dayne toured with Lupe Fiasco on the Stepping Lasers tour back in 2010-2011, and with DJ Jazzy Jeff on the production side of things, Dayne definitely knows how to keep things interesting with his music, but is his music good enough to make you want to listen?

Dayne's ability to tell a story is some of the best I've heard (dare I say since Kendrick, Cole) in quite awhile. The intro track to his album, "In Progress", is the pinnacle of this ability. It's like if you had never heard of him, or never known who Dayne was in your life before this song, you understood his journey after this beautiful (damn near) 6 minute novel of perfect descriptiveness. In "In Progress", Dayne details his come up, and everything that has happened along the way, including starting out working in a Footlocker, and even up to his touring and performing with Lupe Fiasco. You get the picture as clearly as you could possibly get it due to Dayne's picturesque wordplay on "In Progress."

The production on The Memoirs Of Dayne Jordan gives such a summery, warm weather feel that it's release date (7/20) is the perfect date to make those summer memories that we all associate so well with great music. DJ Jazzy Jeff handled production for every track on the album, (which was his first full length project since 2007's The Return Of The Magnificent), and his drums, crisp snares, and (of course) DJ scratches throughout the album round it all out in great fashion. "Waitaminit" is a great example of this production, and the breakdown in the middle of the song with the beat boxing and Dayne's 10 year old rapping self are a highlight of the album. This highlights Dayne's hilarious, yet fond view of his past very well.

"Don't Forget" describes more of his growing up in North Philadelphia, such as hearing gun shots and growing up with his mom and struggles with family getting along. The catchy strings and hook make it pretty hard not to bob your head to this jam. An interesting note about the album is that between each track Dayne tells his story leading into each track, topics range from talking about his family to growing up and making friends, and trying to make a name as a rapper. Dayne's honesty, humble story telling and come up are keys to his rise as a star that will make him relatable to people.

Then comes the incredible "Circle of Life" part's 1 and 2. Part 1 is as deep as it gets, the hook is sang in such a way that would get to anyone who happens to be deep in thought at the time. The concept of these songs is brilliant; the concept of one's life ending, being remembered, and mourned in part 1 leads to the beginning of a new life in part 2; being born, having a dream, remembering the little things about why you love your dream, then conquering your dream. Part 2 is carrying on part 1's legacy in the sense that part 1's life never ends, it is only carried on and lived through part 2.

Dayne Jordan's talent is unquestionable. His story telling ability is that of an author (hence why the album title The Memoirs Of Dayne Jordan is so fitting), and his lyrical ability is a breath of fresh air. While knowing and paying respect to the greats, Dayne pushes the agenda to bring hip hop back to a better time, and it's apparent in his music. If The Memoirs Of Dayne Jordan told us anything else we needed to know, it's Dayne's ability to put together a concept album as genius as the likes of Kendrick Lamar. If The Memoirs Of Dayne Jordan is Dayne's life up to this point, I certainly can't wait for the next audio book. I know I didn't post any of the tracks from Dayne's album, but the entire, 13 track album can be found here ---> https://soundcloud.com/daynejordan/memoirs-of-dayne-jordan-1


     





    

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.