“You Got Me…” - New Orlean’s MC Dappa

AUDIO    By TSSCrew on February 29, 2008 at 11:20 am

Words By David D.

Even though I can get new music anytime I want in the comfort of my own dorm room, there’s nothing like going to a concert and picking up a mixtape. Every Hip-Hop fan has that one story of the time they met a rapper when he or she was a complete nobody, selling a mixtape outside of some sort of venue. Of course, when this rapper blows up, the story gets told every five minutes.

Soon, I think I’ll be able to tell a similar story.

New Orleans’s Essence Festival is an up and coming artist’s wet dream. Superstars and record execs alike come from all over the country to enjoy the craziness. You never know who’s gonna pick up a your tape and, because of this, artists come out of the woodwork to push their product. This past summer at the event, I brought a few bucks and picked up some mixtapes. Of course, a few were good. Most sucked. And one in particular has stayed in my car to this very day: Chocolate City Vol. 1 by insanely talented New Orleans MC, Dappa.

Dappa mixes creative concepts with the swagger that has made New Orleans MC’s so adored. His off the wall imagery and raspy voice will undoubtedly bring comparisons to Luda. Just check this line from the “Wipe Me Down Remix”:

“I been a problem child since the doctor came and smacked my ass/I grew up, caught a cab, found his ass, slapped his ass..”

Lines like that are laugh out loud funny, which is rare these days since we’ve heard almost every punchline there is to make. Then there are songs like “The Simpsons” which takes the show’s theme song and creates a beat that makes you crunch your face with the first clap. Dappa rides the beat perfectly, using cartoons to explain…uh…not so cartoony concepts.

Alongside 5th Child (who is a beast in his own right), Dappa constructs some of his most cohesive and detailed concepts. “Shauna” shows the two MCs fantasizing about a young reminiscent of the DTP starlet while “Chocolate City” allows the two to trade bars about the recovering city of New Orleans.

At first listen, it is definitely easy to see how one can see Dappa as the next big thing. The way he actually is reaching that goal is quite surprising, though.

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine who DJs down in Mississippi sent me Dappa’s first big single, “You Got Me,” which was getting mega-airplay down in the Gulf Coast region. I was expecting the same vicious flow that had me hooked onto the mixtape. Instead, Dap was singing.

While this caught me off guard, no one can deny that the song is hot. Dappa translated his ability to discuss relationships that he displayed on “Chocolate City” to make an infectious hit that will get in your head, make itself comfy and stay there.

But don’t get it twisted, the Big Easy MC will still bite ya head off:

“Swag in my walk and lag in my talk and/Attitude retarded, Bitch I’m from New Awleans”

Those lines are perfect the description of the appeal and attitude of this young beast.

Listen to Dappa’s “You Got Me” and other compiled tracks.

For more info, visit http://www.myspace.com/yaboydappa.

Posted in AUDIO, GENERAL, LOOSIES, MUSIC