I'm not sure if Dom Kennedy would appeal to a hip-hop outsider: his flows are a little off-kilter; his rhymes often slow. But a couple of key early 2010s hip-hop moments helped me really appreciate this dude. The first is "Real Estates" from Curren$y's Pilot Talk 2 (2010), an album that is (along with the preceding Pilot Talk) a benchmark for the kind of stoner rap music that doesn't really exist anymore. "The game don't get any realer" chirped Dom on his knot-tight "Real Estates" verse. Then 2012's "Grooveline" (Schoolboy Q , 2012) verse showcased his relaxed playboy style, ending hilariously with a "Dom Kennedy" drop that sounds like a producer tag.
I never followed him enough to track a new release, but when Frank Ocean included "T P O" on his blonded radio it seemed like a good idea to check out this album. "T P O" is a mellow slap, immediately memorable for the beat's harpsichord melody, but it's also funny: "I was young, but I went to the Grand Canyon once / Now I'm at a stripper house makin' tacos, rollin' blunts." The song exemplifies this album as a whole, which is Dom Kennedy at his best: a realist who is cool, confident and relatable, with fantastic production choices. Clearly following the mold of 90s LA g-funk, "Dominic, Pt. 2" updates the style with fantastic synth notes.
In college I fantasized about living in California and listening to "California", and now I can finally do it. Something about the drums on this one... I would play this over and over again on my little wired earbuds walking around in the cold Pennsylvania winter daydreaming about life in Cali. "Wake up at 1:30, In-N-Out 'fore it close / Catch me in the drive-thru, then spin out on these hoes." Sounds like a good time, man... my plays of "California" dwarf the rest of the album.
I think sometimes Dom Kennedy is unintentionally funny or irreverent. Like, "Since We're Telling the Truth" is ostensibly a love song, but the chorus ends with "I could have a statue downtown." The lyrics "Even if I was starvin' / I'm the type to pass on baloney / Walkman by Sony / I'm big as Tony, Toni, Tone," read like Riff Raff bars, but they're delivered earnestly over the heavenly beat of "When I'm Missin' U". Maybe it's just the nostalgia, but I see these as pluses.
This album was not received well. You have to really dig Dom as a kind of normal-guy-who-likes-hanging-out if you want to sit through this whole record, which could be 3-4 tracks shorter. But revisiting it today it still strikes me as underrated.
Listen to Los Angeles Is Not For Sale, Vol.1 here.
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