#damez

Depending on how you feel about Future, you’re either really happy that he’s released two albums in two weeks (I’m pretty psyched about that, actually), you hate that he’s done that (because you don’t like him and most likely never did), or you don’t care (since you can easily just ignore it, since most people don’t have to listen to his music at all, nor are they forced to check it out). One thing’s for sure, though – these albums, especially when put together, they’re pretty long. Both albums are a little over an hour on their own, but together, they’re over two hours. That’s pretty long, but I don’t mind that, because neither album is exhausting. They have filler, and they could have been trimmed down, but they’re not exhausting or boring albums. When it comes to listening to albums, I look for albums with a good length, but that’s for a couple of key reasons – I like having a small “rotation,” which is what I call the stuff that I’m listening to, and having more shorter albums means that I can have more albums on there, but longer albums can be very hit or miss for me, my rotation withstanding. The longer an album, the bigger chance that it can be exhausting, long-winded, or meandering, because ideas can be repeated and regurgitated. Even great albums can be bogged down by their lengths, unfortunately. That’s how I feel about the new record from rapper / singer Damez, entitled The Art of Extravagance. I came across this rapper on Bandcamp last week, and while the album was sixteen tracks long, I liked what I heard, so I downloaded it, especially because it was cheap to download. I’ve spent the last week with it, and honestly, it’s a frustrating album. This album is great, but it’s bogged down by its exhausting length of 71 minutes. With a length like that, it’s practically a double album, and I don’t know how to feel about that.

What sucks is that, like I said, it’s a great album. Everything on this LP is awesome, whether it’s Damez himself, the lyrics on the album, or even the sound itself, but a couple of key things bother me to no end. The first thing is its length, because 71 minutes it overkill for any album, no matter what it is. Even on albums I love, the length can be a problem, because of replay value. This LP, well, it’s great, but it’s way too for long its own good. This leads into the second thing that bugs me about this LP – its sound doesn’t lend itself to a longer length. See, when I first started The Art of Extravagance, the album’s first four or five songs were more straightforward and energetic bangers; they were generic, but I was thinking, “Okay, if the album’s all going to be like this, it’s going to be too long for its own good.” I was surprised, though, because the album ended up being more of an R&B record. Well, kind of. Its production was more in the cloud-rap, and moody hip-hop sound that an artist like A$AP Rocky has. It was really solid, too, but the problem with this kind of sound is that it’s not very energetic. That type of hip-hop is quiet, moody, and atmospheric, and it’s not a sound I want to hear for 71 minutes. There are some more energetic tracks in there, but it’s a long, exhausting, and meandering album after awhile. The thing is, though, everything else is really good. Damez is a good rapper, and even his singing is pretty good, too. He’s not great, but he is totally fine. I have no complaints about his singing on the album, especially when the content is really nice. There are some very interesting, introspective, and well-written tracks here, at least in the lyrical department, and it’s kind of a shame that the album is too long for its own good. I wish this album were a lot shorter. If it was, I’d get really into this, and it would most likely one of my top albums of the year.