#dlinkwnt

[steelcityhiphop-blog]

Dlinkwnt Single Launch Review

Local emcee Dlinkwnt recently launched his new single “hindsight” at Dicey Rileys with the help of Sydney’s Black Magic and Wollongong’s N2W and Elemont.  I managed to get to down to the show, and for everyone with nothing better to do, here’s what I thought.   First things first… I got there late and only caught about 10 minutes of Elemonts set.  Which was a shame, because he is one of my favourite local rappers.  There are a bunch of new faces on the scene and Elemont is no doubt the pick of them.  He has some deadly skills on the mic and his flow is better than most.  And from what I saw on Friday night, his live show is improving too.  He is relatively new to the stage and he has a lot of improving to do if he wants to realise his potential.  But he is headed in the right direction, and if he works hard on his live show then he has a big BIG future ahead of him.   Up next were N2W.  These guys are new to the area (I think, or at least I haven’t seen them before) so I was keen to check out their skills.  They were ok, but were outclassed by most of the acts on the night.  The DJ is good and the emcee is entertaining enough, but he has an awkward flow that seems slightly out of sync with the beat.  Some bars seem to be short a few words and are stretched out to fit the beat or, vice versa, to many words crammed into a bar.  But as I said, it was still entertaining, and it probably didn’t help going after Elemont - the kid with the flawless flow.    Black Magic were down, fresh off the back of a tour with the Funkoars, and it shows.  Drakezilla (the red headed emcee) is dope.  I have followed him for years.  He didn’t disappoint with his live show either.  They were tight and he has a sharp, aggressive, foul mouthed style that I like… BUT, he sounds SO much like Trials from the Funkoars that I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not.    At about midnight, Dlinkwnt hit the stage with his live band.  I’ve seen Dlinkwnt perform in Wollongong for years, mainly as part of Equal Elements and more recently solo, but never with a live band.  So I was interested to see how he would go…  I thought the set was really good.  Dlinkwnt is a really good live emcee.  His voice is strong and you can understand what he is saying (which is more than what you can say about most emcees) and the live band adds to the show.   I reviewed his new single recently and I said that the heads wont like it because it isn’t a hip hop track.  Its more of a rock track with raps.  And the same goes for the live show.  The band are good, but they are not playing hip hop music.  Hip hop comes from soul, blues and funk music.  It never has and never will come from rock music (don’t mention the cypress hill rock album) and that’s what probably brings down the show in my opinion.  At one point though, with a few added horns, it all came together, it sounded like hip hop and it was really impressive.  If they could pack that vibe into the whole set, then I’d pay to go watch them.  I don’t want to sound negative, because I thought the show was dope.  But there was one thing that stood out for me.  Dlinkwnt is a dope emcee, but he seems to be a bit lost in the band.  An emcee is meant to be the front man.  Look at all the dope acts playing with bands, Drapht, Downsyde, Seth Sentry and even Kade MC on a local level… The emcee/s feeds off the band but they are the highlight of the show and the band are meant to add to that.  Not detract from it.  I think at times, Dlinkwnt didn’t know how to be the front man.  So while the band adds something to the stage, I don’t know whether Dlinkwnt can be the front man or not.  I hope he can, because he has some talent in the band and some potential to make good music (even if its not hip hop).   All in all it was a good night and another reason to be excited about what the future holds for hip hop in Wollongong.  There is not much happening in June, but get out and support local hip hop… and keep your eye out for young Elemont.  He has a huge future ahead of him if he works hard.    Word from the steel city!

[steelcityhiphop-blog]

Dlinkwnt 'Hindsight' Single Review.

This Friday night, local emcee Dlinkwnt will be at Dicey Rileys with his live band and a bunch of dope support acts including Sydney crew Black Magic and local cats N2W and Elemont.  Dlinkwnt will be launching his new single Hindsight and I caught up with him to find out about the single, whats going down at the launch and what it was like playing alongside the one and only Ice Cube.   Let me start by saying, I really like the single.  Its a good song... without being great.  The chorus is thumpin’.  It's catchy and it got my head noddin', but I think the verses let the song down a bit.  The flow is good, but the verses just dont really go anywhere.  The second verse tried to build into something but the lyrics let it down in my humble opinion.  I love songs with dope chorus', and in other genre's a dope chorus is enough to carry a song.  But in hip hop, a song needs to be dope without the chorus.  The verse should be enough to carry the song.  At the end of the day, the verses on this track are good.. But just not good enough to carry the song.  Its still a dope song though.

  Music wise, I like it.  I don’t think the hip hop heads will like it because it sounds nothing like a hip hop song.  But its tight and its played well.  The only bit I don’t like is the keys over the bridge.  They sound like they belong in a horror movie, not a hip hop track and they just take away from the vocal.  I probably would have backed off the drums in the bridge too, just to give the vocal more prominence.  All in all though, the song got stuck in my head and that’s always a good sign.  

  Its been a big couple of months for Dlinkwnt.  He took out the band comp at Dicey Rileys, supported Ice Cube in Canberra, been getting played on local radio and now he’s releasing his new single on Friday night.

  Here’s what Dlinkwnt had to say…

  You've started playing with a live band.  Why's that? 

Honestly i got to a point where my production and beat making skills weren't cutting it and I wasn't getting the product i wanted .... and i met all the band members by chance, i posted an ad on gum tree and Paul answered it, Louis is his brother and knows Erch and i worked with Alice ... so it was almost meant to happen.

And how did you get involved with KP Records? 

I was approached by them after I released my first solo single "no voice left" last year and they signed me off that, once again it was pure chance that i got signed.

  Ha... It seems chance is on your side... How was it playing with the one and only Ice Cube? 

The ice cube show was a real great experience i got to perform in front of 1000 people which I hadn't done before.  I think my max was 300 so it was a big jump, it was also my first arena experience.

Cool, tell us about the launch.  Who's playing and what can we expect? 

We have local cat from the northern suburbs Elemont up first and he's been a big hit locally for the last 12 months. We also have fellow label artists N2W who are a mc/dj combo and are sure to kick the shit out of diceys with there skills. 

And we have "Black Magic" comsisting of Drakezilla, Vince Vega and DJ Ntaprize fresh off their tour with the Funkoars and I personally cant wait to catch there set. 

  What can we expect from you guys on the night? 

A lot of energy on stage, funky/jazzy hooks and some soulfoul songs as well Sounds like its going to be a good night.  The night starts at 8, so get in early to see Elemont start the night off.