On Damey's New Release -- Store Run

Damey and I follow each other on Twitter... that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge of him. Recently, he tagged me a post linking me to his newest project. Usually, I don't pay attention to things like that, but for some reason, I clicked. I'm glad I did. Now I can tell you about a solid project coming out of the Bay Area.

The intro starts off by sampling Curtis Mayfield's "Hard Times," which, of course, automatically piqued my interest. The first full length track catches my attention because of the production, which will be the gem of this project. Suuuuuuper slap, reminiscent of something T.I. would hop over, "Where We Goin" has a nice hook, and I could easily hear this on the radio. The next track, "Heads Ringing," is definitely on some next gen Cali swag hype. I dig the instrumentation, the choice of synth in the beat, and the chord progression. Again, the hook is catchy, and I find myself falling into the trap that a lot of listeners do. Damey's verses haven't grabbed my attention yet... and that's the whole point right? It's only the second track.

The first track that I wasn't digging production-wise or conceptually was "The W." The beat felt dated (early 2000s ala Ludacris) and while Damey's rhymes started to stand out... it was because I began to hear "bitch" much more prevalently. No bueno. Moving on... I LOOOOOOVE the title track "Store Run" because production wise it is simple and classic hip-hop... and Damey, to me, starts SHINING here as far as rhymes. His rhyme scheme is on point, and I did the rah-rah feel of the track. The piano is super on point in the beat... I'm thinking this track is probably going to be my favorite track on the entire project. I run it back at the end and bump it once more before moving on to the next track.

Other tracks that shine are "Free Throws," with its classic Bay feel, "Taste This," with its jazzy production, "Sunsets" with its "play me while riding in your car on the coast" feel (I love these kinds of tracks)...

When I got to "Swagoo," I paid close attention because this is the track the Damey specifically called out to me to listen to. It's a ladies track, and I tend not to like songs for the "ladies." I can see a lot of women enjoying this track, although I personally shrugged at the end of it.

I love the live sound on "One Night" and Damey actually introduces some his folks on instruments at the beginning. YES! This is where hip hop needs to go. Also, this track features one of my favorite emcees in the Bay, Moe Green, making this another track that shines on the project. "Simple Man," which samples Tupac is another dope track lyrically and production. I actually really like how Tupac is sampled more than most people who do it. Usually it comes off as cheesy, and here it doesn't. Overall, I liked Damey's offering on this project. If I had to offer any constructive criticism, it would be that the album ran a little long for me, at 20 tracks, and most listeners have short attention spans. Also, I'll continue to ask emcees to take it easy on the misogyny... I'd rather not hear "bitch" and "hoe" gratuitously used throughout your project, and please save the requests for fellatio for actual real life situations. Lol. Y'all go check out Damey's project at www.damey.bandcamp.com