RJD2 - Dame Fortune

RJD2
Dame Fortune
2016
Spotify

RJD2's first record came out in 2002 and since then He has been producing some of the most interesting and wild music out there. He is able to create hip hop beats borrowing from damn near every genre out there and blending it together into a retro sounding good time. If you have ever watched an episode of Mad Men it is RJD2 you are hearing during the opening credits. This album however is almost 15 years on and shows a side of RJD2 that is not quite so experimental, or quite so new, but more trying to cope with success and appeal to fans old and new. Songs like "Peace of What" featuring Jordan Brown are soulful and rich but they lack the punch that some of his more out there tracks have. The very next track "The Sheboygan Left" is a wall of horns and drum splashes that feels like some kind of 50s retro diner that was space or future themed. An oddly specific vibe, but once you listen you'll get it. Really it is the songs that He let's drag on for over four minutes that you don't want to stop. There could be a DJ scratch coming up, or some kind of sonic explosion, you just don't know what is around the next corner and that is half the fun.

Dame Fortune however is not without it's issues. Just as RJD2 can be experimental and exciting He can also get bogged down in mundane R&Bish tracks. These feel like genric pop songs with an old school bend, but nothing worth shouting home about. Also the intro and outro set an ominous deep tone that they album never really lives up to. "Pf, Day One" has this really pretty piano and violin movement, but it feels so out of place with the rest of the record and gives it this feeling of confusion despite actually liking what is going on. What seems to be the driving force for RJD2 on this album is fun. There is a very present lightness to the music but never crossing into the bubbly realm. It is a very interesting balance that He is able to strike, and He may be one of the only ones who can do it. Dame Fortune will likely not be the triumphant explosion for RJD2, it just has to many confusing turns and odd choices which lead to a real lack of cohesion from the very beginning. He may not have captured that same thing that made "Ghostwriter" one of the all time great songs, but Dame Fortune has a few moments that really do transcend. If this record gets you into some of the truly amazing things that RJD2 has done, than it is a success, but standing alone, not so much.

6.1 out of 10