Mixtape Review: Dom Kennedy – From The Westside With Love

Download – From The Westside With Love

Dom Kennedy is one of today’s many emerging artists who’s talent greatly outmatches their buzz.  Although it’s not an ideal situation, this does make him a great fit for this year’s Paid Dues festival.

Once Dom and his management team find a better way to get his music on the radio and into the hands of potential fans, this West Coast emcee will start enjoying the buzz he deserves.

While Future Street/ Drug Sounds is still my favorite Dom Kennedy release, From The Westside With Love comes in as a close second.  This new project has Dom spitting more of the clever lines we’ve come to expect over his always-impressive beat selection.

A good example of Dom rapping over great production comes early on in the tape’s second track, “Still Me.”  The triumphant beat and smooth R&B hook has me bobbin my head at every listen.

Dom sends a message to his long-time fans with:

“Still the most reliable,
Still the most waited on,
Still the most looked over,
Still the most hated on.”

He’s not the first rapper to feel overlooked, but one of the few who can speak those lines truthfully.  Now let’s take a closer look at a few of the other standout tracks which show how overlooked Dom Kennedy truly is.

Dom Kennedy – “1997″

This track has a reflective feel to it, appropriate for its title, as well as a bass line that has me longing for a slow ride down the West Coast.

Dom spits some creative lines on “1997,” such as this one about Lil Boosie which had me laughing out loud: “bad ass nigga, I am like Boosie/  But that just might have went over your head like a coofie. “  However, my favorite lines come later in the song after he shouts out a number of other public figures:

“I’m the number one pick, that’s Ewing,
Nobody said I would make it but somehow I always knew it.
And I’m running this game, that’s stupid,
I write like Eric, yea that’s Ruthless.
These hoes so Ashanti, that’s foolish,
I’m good on the track, Carl Lewis,
All these rap critics always asking for some new shit,
Tell them go buy it, and they never do shit,
I fuck with Future Street, but dog this is my new shit “

Dom Kennedy makes a great point with those final lines about critics constantly wanting better music but not willing to pay the artist for the extra time and effort.  The more people steal and de-value music, the less incentive artists will have to put their heart and soul into making classic projects.  The last line in particular reminded me of Jay-z’s “On To The Next One,” where he tells critics: “Hov on that new shit, niggas like ‘how come?’/  Niggas want my old shit, buy my old album.”  I like that attitude of adapting your rap style to fit your life no matter what critics think or want.

In case you were wondering, Dom eventually gets into the 1997 references at the end of the track as he reminisces on what he was doing thirteen years ago.

Dom Kennedy – “Home Alone”

The Weathermen killed the production on this smooth track, which embodies L.A.’s signature laid-back feel.  The beat coupled with Dom’s flow and catchy hook, often has me putting this track on repeat.

Also, I find myself humming the chorus where Dom goes back and forth with a girl chanting about not wanting to be alone.

Dom Kennedy – “A Leimert Park Song”

“A Leimert Park Song” features more production from The Weathermen.  But this time, instead of capturing the laid-back L.A. feel, they’ve provided a hard track for Dom Kennedy to rap about his hometown while commenting on the current rap game with lyrics such as:

“The game need niggas that’s affectionate,
Not just a bunch of niggas wanna text and shit,
Not just a bunch of niggas wanna sex and shit,
Dissin the same niggas that they textin wit,
I’m texting a nigga girl, like ‘your man suck,’
Meet me up at Audubon tell him get his hands up.”

Those were pretty funny, but my favorite lines off “A Leimert Park Song” come when Dom pauses to insert gun sounds into his rhymes:

“I don’t rap about the hood,
I come down one like,
Blach, blach, blach, blach, blach, (Gun Sounds)
Yea I’m from round one.”

I know there’s a handful of gangster rappers out there wishing they had came up with those lines first, ha!

Dom Kennedy – “Me Again”

I’m going to end this article with the bonus track off the mixtape that proved to be one of Dom’s most personal tracks yet.  Here’s the emcee commenting on how much things have changed, yet stayed the same, in his life:

“We was wild in those days, we don’t sin as much,
Got a lot more going, but we don’t grin as much,
It’s still cops and robbers, but we don’t pretend as much,
All that stimulus money, and they don’t send us much,
Looking for a break, but we dont really bend as much,
Homes is going up, and they don’t even lend us much,
It’s still red and blue, and they don’t really blend it much,
Police try and break it up, but they don’t end it much.”

Those lines had me reflecting on the past, whereas the end of this track has listeners hoping for a better future.  Dom shares the following motivational statement as “Me Again” winds down:

“Hard work can take you anywhere you wanna go,
If you don’t believe in nothing else you can bet on that.
Keep your head up high and never look back,
Know it’s only one person that can stop you from getting what you want and that’s yourself,
You just gotta push yourself to be the best and don’t worry bout nobody else.
Remember, theirs aint got nothing to do with yours.”

I couldn’t agree more with those closing lines.  In today’s world, the main difference between most people who fail and succeed is the passion and determination it takes to be the best.

Download From the Westside With Love if you haven’t already, and also be sure to keep an eye out for Dom Kennedy’s upcoming video to “Racing Stripes” off of Curren$y’s Smokee Robinson project!