This week's Rap Station Spotlight Artist begins with an intriguing anecdote. After years of trading rhymes and verses, Nowenen struck dialogue with Askia, “ We need to record a cd.” “I don't rap,” replied the latter. “I don't either. That's what makes it dope.”
Anchored by the beats of DJ Archives, Dip Diver embodies the unique styles of Featuring Nowenen and Dialo Askia in the classic Hip-hop trio blueprint, but the output is much, much more. The trio offers music in both past and future tense, that is, listeners encounter both vintage and modern, it's avant garde fusion Hip-hop mingling the minds of Hip-hop innovators.
“This is 'rewind' music', not to bring that feeling back, but to prove it never left,” explains the trio, reflective upon their music, “The Dip Diver sound and feel is our own. We pen rhymes full of vlever word play, double entendres, and eclectic references over head-nodding beats.”
Their latest project attests to such standalone qualities. Listeners aren't merely cruisingback into Hip-hop underground, but ultimately taking a dive underwater, exploring the diverse depths within each track. The single, “Islamic Green” authors verses consciously asserted over complex beats, while “332.35m” has guest artist Kool Keith flowing under the track's retrospect urban backdrop, polished with classic disc screeches of course.
Included on Rap Station's Top 10 exclusive, “Boyle's Law” exhibits the perfect introduction track for Dip Diver's aptitude. Listeners are first saluted with some trivia to ponder, beats kick in and razor-sharp verses start splintering against a vintage ambience, “I'll fit it with a Quran and a racket/ A fish outta water on my backet/ Dip Diver does what you never seen/ Live and direct straight to a better scene.”
By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com
