Dom Kennedy – From the Westside With Love, II
Released: 2011 June 28
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
Who is Dom Kennedy?
In 2010, I found Dom Kennedy to be a basic rapper who seemed to be appearing on every project I listened to, from Curren$y and all the way 360 back to Wiz Khalifa. In early 2011, he was a rapper whose music I had just begun to understand. Now, he is one of the West Coast’s most popular and respected rap acts. When summertime comes around, Hip-Hop circles are practically begging for a new Dom Kennedy release. Maybe they’re attracted to his clever charisma or player persona. Or 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 the O.P.M camp.
I’d recommend this project to longtime fans and newcomers alike. Dom continues to use the same formula that’s got him where he is today – his signature rhyming pattern and outward vocal projection coupled with smooth beats fit for a West Coast summer.
One particular moment that I appreciated on From The Westside With Love 2 is the stretch from tracks 1-10, where Dom rhymes the entire album by himself (the only feature during that stretch is an uncredited hook on “O.P.M”) and it feels seamless.
There are few rappers who can last the entirety of an LP and still keep the listener interested.Dom Kennedy can and did during tracks 1-10.
For measure, Jay-Z is a rapper who can hold down an entire album on his own, see: The Blueprint album, which has just 1 feature. The fact that Dom’s not much of a lyricist (he’s about average to above average) makes this feat 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 Good album, cohesive with good production and numerous quotables.