Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition - Your Old Droog: Review
is a Brooklyn based Ukrainian American rapper who first emerged around the middle of the last decade drawing comparisons to Nas with many even believing he could be Nas rapping under a pseudonym. Since then he has released 6 records highlighted by 2017's critically acclaimed Packs. Droog released 3 full studio albums of material in 2019 alone and quickly turned around to release Dump YOD which appears to address his Ukrainian history.
Review By Lav:
I've been a pretty big fan of Droog since first hearing Packs in 2017 and last year his Transportation album proved to be a favorite of mine even though I didn't have time to review his third album of 2019 Jewels before the year was out. Droog once again dropped a December album and I wasn't gonna let it get by me again, especially given that Dump seems like Droogs most personal and conceptual record yet. As it turns out that concept extends much more to the instrumentals of the record than the lyrics and there's a lot more personality than personal lyricism.
The first two singles for the record certainly established some of the criteria behind the record but I wasn't necessarily thrilled by either of them. Ukraine came first and while the delivery is certainly confident I'm not really getting lost in any of the refrains or the tracks attempt at an overall narrative. Pravda is a posse cut with an impressive roster of features pulling Black Thought from The Roots and EL-P of Run The Jewels. Unfortunately those two throw the quality balance of the track off as EL-P handles everyone performance wise and Black Thought delivers nearly all of the tracks quotable moments. There is a similar let down on the track New Religion which features a decent beat only for Mach Hommy to show up on the tracks while being mixed ridiculously loud for no reason at all. His verse is literally ear piercingly loud compared to the others which is not only jarring but brings down the whole tracks second half.
Matryoshka is a multi-faceted nearly 7 minute long track that bounces around topically and features a few killer series of bars. Unfortunately not every part of the song is quite as good and it takes a while to build up to its best moments out of the gate. Malchishka Krutoy is a pretty interesting track with a verse entirely rapped in Russian and an extended outro sample of someone talking also in Russian. I'm not sure the tracks instrumental is conducive to what the song is aiming to do which makes for a kind of strange detour.
Odessa is a grimy low key hip hop classic with Droog and billy woods both providing relaxed but confrontational verses. It's nothing new but both veterans pull it off well. babushka II is a track dedicated to Droog's grandmother over another classical style beat which may or may not feature an accordian. The lyrics here are hilarious and while I think the mixing is deliberately imbalanced I can't ignore the fact that it impacts the songs enjoyability a bit.
None of these songs are terrible but they do have little flaws, thankfully there are a handful of wonderful songs in the mix. Kazakhstan is a witty lowkey opener with a smooth beat and references to everything from Francis Scott Key to Fred Van Vleet. Droog is as braggadocious as most rappers but disguises it with another level of wordplay that's a lot of fun to unpack. Uzbekistan is a pretty great track with one of Droog's more fiery verses on the record and a surprisingly great feature from Phonte full of wonderful wordplay. Mach Hommy is better mixed this time around and matches the songs themes and energy much better than his other appearance. Kyrgyzstan was the final single leading up to the record and it's emerged as one of my favorite songs. It's a lyrical and songwriting highlight with a number of memorable bars and a subtly evolving instrumental that combines steady drums with string and vocal samples. The real highlight is Droog and his slick similes which dabble in all kinds of pop culture but make sure to return to the Russian aesthetic of the record.
Dump YOD has some ambition and attempts a reasonably consistent concept but never quite sees it all the way through. While instrumentally the album takes a lot of bold risks interpreting the culture that obviously inspired the record it doesn't always pay off and some tracks never make it off the ground. Lyrically Droog is relying on his bassline of rapping talent and slick lyricism which makes a few of his songs sound more like a series of double entendre exercises rather than actual coherent verses. But needless to say there are a handful of really quality tracks on the album that make it worth listening for all Droog fans and for New York hip hop heads alike. 5.5/10
