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The Don of Diamond Dreams
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The Don of Diamond Dreams
Current price: $13.99
Barnes and Noble
The Don of Diamond Dreams
Current price: $13.99
Size: CD
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starts the first proper song on the fifth
album with wanderlust whispers reminiscent of
's "Night Drive." The MC also echoes the early techno classic's theme of travel facilitated by nature as much as technological advancements, eagerly "hurtling through space" with moonlight as his conductor. The live-sounding retro-futuristic fusion accompanying him -- humming low end, simmering snares, and fleshy handclaps, seemingly guided by early-'70s
sessions -- is a greater indication of what follows. Compared to
's conceptual third and fourth LPs, which arrived together in 2017,
is unified by its funkier and humanized sonics more than its lyrics. Slithering from track to track with verses chock-full of elevated non sequiturs,
still tends to come across as a sage, somewhat alien wordsmith, but he projects more warmth than before. Most conspicuously, affection is abundant. It's all through the burbling bass and whipping synthesizers of "Bad Bitch Walking," where the male gaze is twisted with sly remarks like "She was looking like...a genius" and an appearance from the smooth-as-ever
. On a more personal level for
, there's the touching "Thanking the Girls," in which he honors his wife and daughter with a slight lilt in his voice, likely grinning as he proclaims "I'm just so happy when both the girls close to me." Antagonism is limited, with
still at his wryest and most biting when handheld devices are in the frame ("You're a scroller, I'm an explorer"). A couple of the lengthier tracks communicate more with their titles than their music. They're at least counteracted with some of the wittiest, weirdest, and somehow most direct songs in the
catalog. Most dizzying is the
/
horror-funk fantasy "Chocolate Souffle," in which
enumerates his self-acquired advantages, references
and
, and ices his rival with "You a data rat, I'm a black slang acrobat." ~ Andy Kellman