Dom Kennedy - By Dom Kennedy (Album Review)

Like we've seen a bunch this year Dom Kennedy sprung his new album, By Dom Kennedy, on us pretty quickly from the time it was announced to the official release. I was really anticipating this album. I've enjoyed most of his music and the tracks that were released leading up to this were some of the best songs I'd heard from him so I went in to this expecting it to be pretty good and hoping my expectations wouldn't be let down.

By Dom Kennedy is the kind of album that has that smooth driving vibe. The beats have a really low key vibe that allows Dom to flow over them with ease. The lyrics become a main focus due to the smooth nature of the beats. The lyrics work really well on this one for the most part. There's a nod to Biggie on "Thank You Biggie". It even includes Dom spitting a few classic Biggie bars over the beat. "Fried Lobster" features Bonic and he's basically the only guest artist on this album (outside of the producers). Sadly I think his verse just doesn't work on the song. He's a talented rapper but he comes in early in the song and he sounds a little too aggressive over the beat and it's a little jarring on first listen. I really liked some of Philly's Most Wanted stuff (Bonic's classic group), but for some reason it just didn't work as well as I wanted to on this track. With him being the lone guest I was really expecting something over the top. "2Bad" is a big standout track. It's a really good song and Dom flows over the beat really well. I really like the beat on the song "Lemonade". It's easily one of my favorite beats on the album. The song just screams single. It's pretty impressive that a song including instructions on how to make lemonade can work so well, but Dom's lyrical delivery and the strength of the beat make it work with the utmost ease. Overall the album has a pretty good beat selection. The album creates a nice vibe and it just keeps it throughout the album. It creates kind of a nostalgic feeling to some of those golden moments of 90s hip hop while maintaining a really fresh current feel. The album's a little on the short side but the quality more than makes up for it.

The good production coupled with Dom's flow make this album one of his better albums. In my opinion this might be his best album. I like that the features are kept to a minimum. It definitely helps create and maintain the flow. I'd put this up there with Curren$y's Pilot Talk 3 in terms of what I consider just really good driving around at night smooth kind of rap albums released this year. I'm digging this one. I'd definitely recommend it.