I honestly thought, coming towards the end of the year I wouldn’t have the capacity to discover new artists until 2025 but ’24 still wasn’t finished with me yet and so here I am, with a fresh discovery by a fresh duo I’ve never heard of reviewing a dope ass record I get the opportunity to cover.
Now, this is the duo of ‘Dusty Souls’ which consists of rappers ‘Aaqil Ali and Y.N.X 716’ who along side a variety of production features such as: GeminiSoundz, Chef Carter, Renz Beatz, Tone Beatz, Jamar Johnson, Imperetiv and Cee Gee – all who help creative what I can only describe as tranquility meets Hip Hop. It’s not lo fi that you’d hear on records done by Kenny Segal or anything boring or tiring but production that reaches a whole new tier that most records just either can’t or haven’t reached.
Whether it’s Jazz influenced tracks, songs that sound like Spanish guitar is used or songs with beautifully crafted piano keys each song just features layers upon layers of smooth, irresistible melodies and sounds that just relax your whole body and elevates all brain activity, long story short it’s fucking awesome. Now, lyrically these two have fantastic chemistry and the bouncing off each other feels absolutely seamless and effortless. Each man brings their own unique cadence and flavour to the tracks, you’re not hearing the same concepts twice per song but two separate individuals who share a like minded soul and goal for the record.
I love the concept of ‘The Watcher’ that is scattered throughout the record! It gives the album a more grand and mysterious feel to it, although only a simple few words uttered it makes all the difference. Some artists try too hard to do too much and ends up feeling overwhelming and cluttered but this record is the perfect example of ‘less is more’ and it works to a tee! Overall, for a 13 track record with 35 minute run time this is nothing short of extraordinary. From the lyricism to the production to the overall messages and character exuding from the artists themselves this is definitely a must listen for the year!
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