Some rappers can spend years convincing you not to check out their music, just based off their name alone. Dababy is one of them. Rich Dunk is definitely not. Both of them came out the Charlotte scene, which has always had a unique spin on the genre even by North Carolina standards; half East Coast lyrical, half Dirty South crunk, half drunk & high at 2 am parked next to some cops in front of a gas station. If you know, you can already smell what I mean.
“Big Dawg” is straight bars, no hooks, just a trunk-rattling, tire-bouncing 808 break. It’s a great fucking formula, and also the best way for boom bap heads to interact with what Rich Dunk & Dababy are actually doing as rappers. Having fun will never go out of style.
It’s always been clear that Dababy grew up on 50 Cent, but where Curtis carries his confidence like a silverback gorilla speaking softly with a big stick, Dababy takes a far more pitbull approach. In the “compact mammalian murder machine” sense, not the “cartel funded talentless superstar” sense. It’s easy to hear why he’s been so successful since he incorporated his Billion Dollar Baby imprint: it might be as repetitive as hell itself, but he is the product everyone else wants to be.
As for Rich Dunk, I’m sold. He’s got the outsize personality to match his dumbfuck signature hair, and holds his own against one of the most nimble spitters swimming at the top of the Billboard charts these days. He does that mostly through charisma and delivery, granted, but that’s more than half the battle, from the 70’s right on up through to today. You need to captivate the crowd.
2 Chainz remains a clear improvement upon Tity Boi, perhaps the apex example of making the right call retroactively. To his credit, Dababy has built out such a huge footprint in the music industry that it would be a Prince-grade disruption if he ever switched it up, but he still should. It would just be better for all of us. If you’re reading this, do the right thing. If you’re his lawyer or manager, think of the money you could make doing it, then read this to him. Thank you.
The bars are boring but the video is entertaining and the vibe here is summertime perfection. Three Dickies.
