Who is Dom Kennedy?
Dom’s Prayer: 3.75/5
Grind’n: 4.25/5
When I Come Around: 4/5
Come Over: 3.75/5
She Ain’t In Love: 3.5/5
Money Don’t Stop: 4.5/5
O.P.M: 4.25/5
Platinum Chanel: 4.25/5
I Love Dom: 3.5/5
The Ways: 3.5/5
Mr. Champagne Intermission (feat Polyester of L.A.U.S.D): 4/5
Ice Cream Truck: 4.25/5
New Jeeps (feat Asher Roth & Mikey Rocks): 3.75/5
2mph (feat Big K.R.I.T): 4.25/5
Beats, Hoes, and Rhymes (feat Casey Veggies & Schoolboy Q): 3.75/5
Dream To Me: 2.75/5 (so much wasted potential on this track, Dom chose to freestyle his way through)
Graduate: 3.5/5
To me, last year he was just a basic rapper who seemed to be appearing on every project I listened to, from Curren$y all the way 360 to Wiz. Three months ago he was a rapper whose music I had just began to understand. Now, he is one of the West Coast’s most popular rap acts. Maybe it’s his clever charisma or player persona. Maybe it’s his distinct voice or witty punchlines or his signature rhyming of the last two syllables in each line. Whatever it is, Dom Kennedy has built a hefty fanbase off of it, and From The Westside With Love 2 proved to be a successful release from his camp.
I’d recommend this to longtime fans and newcomers throughout. He continues to use the same formula that’s got him where he is – his rhyming pattern and outward voice projection coupled with smooth beats fit for a West Coast summer. The one thing that I want to point out about From The Westside With Love 2 is the stretch from tracks 1-10, where Dom virtually rhymes the entire album by himself (the only feature during that stretch is an uncredited hook on O.P.M) and it seems so seamless. There are not many rappers who can rap the entirety of an LP and still keep the listener interested, (for measure, Jay-Z is a guy who can rap an entire album on his own). Dom can, and the fact that he’s not that much of a lyricist (about average to above average) makes it even more impressive. He does this simply by sticking to his own formula –being himself. Dom has it. Dom Kennedy is…well…Dom Kennedy. Get to know him, because you won’t find it anywhere else.
3.85/5