Before Sam Adams, sleazy Boston co-eds relied on the Camp to get their panties moist. The commercial-flavored slow-flow shooter in that North Shore–based UMass alum squad, Dese is a hip-hop anomaly who’s capable of battling with space-minded whiteboys and street disciples. (He’s also the Boston MC whose cadence most reminds me of Jay-Z.)
As always, Dese comes with degenerate pimp zingers (he is, after all, the dude responsible for “Your girl’s looking for dick like, ‘Yo — where did Richard go?’ ”). But with age and experience, on his solo debut, this pizza-grubbing blunt roaster digs deep into relevant everyday topics, opening up about his blue-collar day job and perpetual status as the “best rapper you’ve never heard of.”
Thanks to a mix of synth-heavy and acoustic heat from basement stars Billy Blaze, Grubby Pawz, and Teddy Roxpin, Dese has room for punch lines (“Stop Lyin’ ”), flatlines (“Fight”), and snacktime (“Weekend”). His 20-joint track list could use some trimming down, but mostly just because anything sounds unworthy beside a tremendous single like “Hip-Hop Love.”
