Dag Savage revives hip-hop traditions with debut

By Luke Nozicka

Traditional hip-hop lovers have a new record to treasure and appreciate for years to come.

Hip-hop duo Dag Savage released their highly anticipated debut album, “E&J,” Tuesday.

Dag Savage became a duo when American producer Exile teamed up with Dirty Science-endorsed San Diego rapper Johaz in 2012. The album is full of windows-down driving and thinking music.

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Savage kicks off the album with “The Beginning,” a smooth, upbeat song that sets the feel for most of the album. The second track, titled “For Oldtimes Sake,” takes a hard turn from the first song’s optimistic lyrics to Johaz reminiscing on a difficult childhood and his upcoming as a man. While most of the tracks have relaxing styled beats, the album as a whole is full of the two artists’ personal and emotional tales.

Beats vary from song to song, ranging from the cheerfully produced “Van Gogh (feat. Choosey)” and “When It Rains (feat. Aloe Blacc),” to darkly distorted rhythms in songs like “Bad Trip (feat. Adad, Gonjasufi & Sahtyre)” and “FUPM (feat. Med & Rass Kass).”

Most of the album’s songs incorporate a nicely constructed pulse overlaid with a soft piano, including the seventh track “Van Gogh (Feat. Choosey)” and the eighth track “Cali Dreamin (feat. Fashawn, Co$$ & Tiombe Lockhart).”

By far, the best song on the album is “Don’t Stop (feat. Blu).” Blu is a rapper and producer out of Los Angeles, Calif., who was named HipHopDX’s “Rookie of the Year” in 2007.

“FUPM (feat. Med & Rass Kass),” is another exceptional track. The percussion, synthesizers and mysterious crime-filled lyrics make for a record that creates an intriguing story of living in a villainous city for the listener.

“When It Rains (feat. Aloe Blacc)” is the feel-good song of the record. It is the 15th song on the album. For that song, Exile samples Brenton Wood’s “I Like The Way You Love Me,” which was released in 1967. Because of the gleeful vocal samples, this record sounds as if it can be played on a sunny day or while sitting inside during a storm.

The album ends with the same soul beat used for “The Beginning” on a track called “The Finish.”

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This record is reminiscent of a slower, more cooled-out OutKast album, and fans of OutKast might enjoy “E&J.

While the record is nicely organized for a debut album, the duo used a surprisingly absurd amount of features. Nine of the 16 songs have another artist featured, about six too many.

Savage’s work is extraordinarily underrated and only time will tell if this album will boost their popularity, which it should. While the album has more positives than negatives, traditional rap songs are usually longer than several minutes, like the ones heard on this album. Each track is short; no song is longer than four minutes.

Beyond the song lengths, this album has the content of a traditional core hip-hop album, which is appreciated. But if Savage would have cut half their features and lengthened their own verses, this artwork would be one of the genre’s most compelling albums.

“E&J” can be streamed on Spotify or purchased on Amazon or iTunes.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter at @LukeNozicka, or 536-3311 ext. 268.

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