Review: "Beginning of a Legend" Album by DTB Chris
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Throughout his debut album, “Beginning of a Legend”, New York based rapper DTB Chris plants seeds in the mind of the listener that he will be one to watch for many years to come. Everything about the album has a living, breathing quality to it. Full of so much life, the mixture of samples alongside economical grooves gives the sound a duality. On one hand, there is the tremendous bass, the beats that have such a heavy-hitting impact. With the flip side they prove to have a deft skill with picking out rather infectious and catchy samples into the mix.
By far, the highlight of the album comes from DTB Chris’s reflective delivery. His lyricism, his flow, all of these further add to the sense of the journey that effortlessly meshes together to create a vast stream of acknowledgment that he is the future of New York hip hop.
For DTB Chris’s vocals, he takes his time in painting pictures of his every day life as a teenager. Nothing ever is rushed, the patience shown throughout gives it a masterful quality. Vocals have a low-key, conversational approach. He chooses a contemplative ode to the way the album unfurls, at times touching upon the confident cool of Frank Ocean. Quite sunny like Frank Ocean’s work, the songs have an almost summery quality to them with every layer being added on with the greatest level of care.
Gentle guitar introduces the album with “The Jungle”, and with a sense of grandeur, “Not Lucky” evolves and is a worthy follow up, letting the listener know that this is no fluke. Wobbly bass gives “Poppin” a heavy physicality, and akin to origami, the way “Flex Up” grows, allows for DTB Chris to show off a little bit.
Much more intense “Trust Issues Pt. 2”, featuring Benji KC, chooses an aggressive, harder edged quality. Tenderness reigns supreme on the romantic “Feel a Way”. Stripping things down to the essentials “STOMP STOMP!” has an elastic approach and various sped up samples add to the playfulness of the album closer “Story”.
The “Beginning of a Legend” album shows off DTB Chris’s uncanny ability to share a world that feels so uniquely his own. We highly recommend that DTB Chris’s debut album.