Devin The Dude is a bona fide legend in Texas hip-hop. He's been around forever and just ended a fifteen-year association with Houston's Rap-A-Lot records. Historically, this would mean an iminent move to Koch, but ever the defier of convention, he signed to Razor and Tie for a single record deal. They have the distro and the licensing know-how, but I wouldn't think they would be a go-to for an established hip-hop artists. Remember all the luck Matador had with hip-hop? Nuff said. Either way, it's a pretty good score for Razor and Tie and Devin sure isn't phoning it in: Landing Gear is another top-notch hip-hop record, regardless of where your auditory allegiences lie. Devin tracks have always featured the live funky instrumentation that Dr. Dre codified into G-Funk. It's bass-heavy, with clean wah guitar and funky drums, plus you can drink cough syrup to it. Not my thing, but all my styrofoam cup wielding Weez-o-philes sure do like to sip that purple. Having spent the last three days putting the Rob in Robotussin, I'm not sure they get anything done, but I bet they don't much care. Landing Gear is definitely ear candy. I don't have a car, or even the greatest desire to cruise in one, but if I did this record would be my go-to. These are some funky-ass tracks. Check the bass and flute combo of Your Kinda Love or the Barry White smooth slow jam I Need A Song if you don't believe me.
Now as 'adult' the instrumentation is, the content is even more so. Devin's reputation as a disciple of Blowfly and Andre Williams will not be undermined. The problem is that they are so insidiously hooky that you might not be able to help singing along with some of the more *ahem* ribald fare. He's also no stranger to more introspective fare like I Can't Make It Home; but as much as some of the songs are potential slow jams, it's going to be tough to use Stray and its chorus of "I Can't Stand Stupid Bitches" as the soundtrack to getting your freak on, but if anyone can pull that off, it would be Devin. That is one smooth singing and rapping brother. I've caught a handful of his live shows in recent years and he's also notable for being one of the only rappers I've ever seen that's actually capable of performing entire songs live. I'd really like to see him in one of the fabled Fifth Ward warehouse shows with a live band, but I would venture maybe discretion might be the better part of valor in that regard. I can always hope for a DVD.
Landing Gear is only the fifth formal Devin release, although he's been a part of releases by his compatriots in the Odd Squad and Coughee Brothers outfits, but in that time he's been on a short list of rapper's rappers. It's mind-boggling to me that he hasn't crossed over huge, especially in the wake of Outkast's success. His contributions to the glory days of the Death Row seemed poised to push him into the spotlight, but in the interim, it's indie labels and a lot of dates on the road. Check out the initial dates here and hope that Devin and his Landing Gear touch down in your town very soon. Landing Gear drops on 10/7, you can preorder it here.
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