Domo Genesis, like many great rappers, took some time to grow into himself. He spent his early career learning face-first in public, alongside one of the most over-hyped young crews of that entire decade. He got a lot of great looks early on, and spent years dropping underwhelming features alongside cultural giants. To the extent I came to know him, it was as the least impressive verse on someone else’s album, consistently.
All that has changed, considerably. Because his improvements have been such a wu-wei refinement, I think a lot of heads are still overlooking him. He’s still immaculately stoned with an angry, depressed edge to every bar, but the confidence behind that is completely different now, calm instead of brash.
He’s also still playing loose with his rhyme schemes, more concerned with feel than meter. For a generation of crackers raised on the Mathers Method of theatrically emphasizing every last syllable of the multi-pattern, all this art & architecture is illegible. Reddit nerds calling this style “off beat” deserve death; a hard call but humanity has no other way forward.
Young Gunshot was a funny gimmick on TV, but it was also barely a joke. D. Genesis has always been as unrepentantly street as Schoolboy Q, or perhaps more accurately, as Queensbridge godfather Prodigy. His style has many fathers, most of them Angeleno, but the cold contempt cadence of Mobb Deep classics has always been his biggest influence. That’s a good thing, and as “DEAR SUMMER” makes clear, he’s still growing into an understated monster.
As a music video, this was simple but excellent. That’s partly down to the photography but mostly down to the fact the treatment is tailor made for the beat. It illustrates the sound. The fact it’s all so incongruous to the lyrics gives it more impact, similar to Yakiyn doing shoots in an oilfield.
It also works as a comeback moment. The confidence, the hunger, and the execution are all on point, and it’s wild to compare this to the weird flop of Joey Bada$$ trying to be King of New York for a week back in ’25. Both artists were repping their cities while doing a video shoot in the boonies, but only one of them was being himself.
If you, like me, were sleeping on this emcee: your first stop should be SCRAM!, his album with Virginia producer Greymatter from last year. As for “DEAR SUMMER,” this is a strong video for a great rap song. Four Dickies.
