Damien HolstersNearly a month after underground cult heroes Atmosphere released a 26-track LP, another mainstay of below-the-radar hip hop – albeit with a very different style – followed suit. But, whereas Atmosphere’s tracklist was dictated by a structuring concept – the title of each song started with each letter of the alphabet – it’s more like Dave East stopped at 26 because that just happens to be when he finally emptied his book of rhymes. (You will probably never see anyone compare the two ever again, so now seems like the only time it will ever be relevant to mention that Dave’s song “Trouble”, from his 2022 mixtape “The Book of David”, nicely samples Atmosphere’s classic “Say Hey There”). And well, this project being released only a few months after his and Young Chris’ “Fine Dining”, and on the same year as his gem of a collab with fellow hard-spitting New Yorker Ransom, “The Final Call”, you wouldn’t have thought Dave’s notepads could’ve still been so full. Mind you, he didn’t even wait for this review to be published to release yet more music: the deluxe version of “Karma 4” is now available, with Big Sean (and Bun B) joining forces on lead single “Man In the Mirror”.
Ever the graphomaniac, and maybe even more so since he left Def Jam in 2023, Dave’s still trying to outgrind everyone in the game. To say he’s favored quantity over quality would be nonchalant glib, because there might not be a hit on every project, nor a quotable in every song, but he has still managed to keep his standards high, style and production-wise. You can hardly ever stamp one of his projects as a straight-up failure, but that is precisely the issue: escaping that “solid but ultimately forgettable“ tagline is his biggest challenge, lest he joins the heavily-filled ranks of dope mixtape rappers from NY whom that one classic album eluded – Fab, Lloyd Banks or Papoose, to name a few.
In many ways, “Karma 4”, like “Fortune Favors the Bold” (2023)before it,looks and sounds like a shot taken at that glass ceiling. In his own words, Dave put “a lot, a lot of pain into this joint”, and it is one that seems like it was well thought out: the 26 tracks are ordered so that similar-sounding songs are far apart, highlights and star features (Larry June, Wiz Khalifa, Nipsey) being well-spaced as well. Having lowkey legend Pain In Da Ass perform all of his gangsta-movies-inspired skits on the same background music throughout, or even taking time midway through to “welcome [his listeners] to Karma 4” (on “Respectfully”), might seem like decisions taken deliberately to make the project sound less mixtapey – although a continuation of the Karma mixtape series, this one was promoted and released as an album.
Yet, despite efforts to mold this album into a single, cohesive story, and not just a collection of individual songs that’ll eventually blend together in the listener’s memory, a lack of eccentricity in song structure, writing themes or sample choices do make the latter, rather than the former, ring like the truer description. In a way, listening to any selection of three songs plus a skit from “Karma 4”means you have listened to the whole thing. Note that this only constitutes a partial indictment, as one could argue it gives the album a homophonic feel. After all, there are a few essentials Dave never neglects: whether “Demon”, “Respectfully” or “Crazy” are in that three-song selection, you’ll have proof he can effortlessly adapt his delivery to currently en vogue production styles. If it’s “Heard You”, “Ahki Store” or “Runnin’” , you’ll have to give him credit for still holding it down for the streets ; if it’s “Desperation”, “Shooter Blocc” or “My Dawgs”, it’ll serve as a reminder that he “paints the pain well”, as he put it during the listening party. And on just about any given song, his energy and focus are unquestionable.
Chances are you’ll encounter at least a couple of dispensable lines as well: “Life gets funny like Kevin Hart” (“Desperation”), “Praying to the most high, still I’m the most fly” (“12 Months”). At this point, rhyming “crazy” with “Jay-Z” should also be something any rapper should actively avoid, at any point throughout any rhyme scheme. Choruses are also a downer on this project: when Dave raps them, they are undistinctive from verses, as always, and you have to wait until they’re repeated to figure out they are actually the chorus. You could argue it’s his signature style of doing them, but it still kind of defeats the purpose of having a hook in the first place. (At least, they are certainly superior to the guest RnB choruses that are some of the weaker features of the album, such as Jeremih on “Stand on That” or Jacquees on “Never Get Enough”).
The wonky lines aren’t as wonky as the good rhymes are good though, whether it’s the extremely smooth:
“It’s still middle fingers up to most of the sarges
You can lead them to the water, they thirsty regardless” (“Desperation”)
… or the spiteful:
“Oh, Kendrick and Drake the reason the internet got y’all tweakin’
Beef to me was “Ether” or Pac bleedin’ out the speakers
I mean, it’s good for all the niggas watchin’, popcorn in the bleachers” (“Shooter Blocc”).
To quote one a line from the opening track of 2022’s “The Book of David”, “you can tell [when] it really comes from the heart”, and in Dave’s case, the honesty is never in doubt. As such, and somewhat out of nowhere, Dave follows the lines mentioned above with one of the many shout-outs to his children he sowed throughout the album: “before I lace my sneakers, I kiss my daughters, I hate to leave ’em”. Fragmentation is the rule in his style of storytelling: it’s all about snapshots. A few lines later, the lapidary “white tees, I see them burgundy” is an entire tale of life on the streets told in half-a-dozen words. It might seem at times like he’s jumping from pillar to post, but you can hear the heart beat underneath each line, as in this excerpt from “Respectfully”, one of the strongest moments of the album:
“I sat on my pockets, broke, formulatin’ a plan to win
Standin’ out I naturally did, was never in my plans to blend
Chemo’ was the hope for auntie, don’t know how that cancer spin
Memories of her favorite music, one day we gon’ dance again
Circumstances set up all against us, wasn’t no chance to win
My homie in the wheelchair for his life, think he gon’ stand again
I ain’t got the answers now, shit, I ain’t had the answers then”.
Another line that stands out is Dave’s acknowledgement that “you ain’t really made it till your crew made it” on “Bottega Trunks”, because sure enough, he made room for his crew on this one. The usual suspects get a spot: Cruch Calhoun, Mike & Keys, Buda & Grandz or Harry Fraud (before him, “the only fraud [Dave] knew was checks”) are some of the artists with whom Dave released collaborative projects recently, that come back on “Karma 4”. Mozzy, who also worked with Dave in the past, steals the show in terms of guest verses, with a rhyme scheme on “Bus Stop” that wouldn’t look out of place on “The Final Call”. In terms of newcomers on a Dave East album, the big guns leave a lot to be desired (Wiz Khalifa shows why he was never considered a top-tier lyricist, Rell’s crooning makes one swipe right on to the next song, and Larry June’s lazy flow might’ve been too lazy on this occasion), but producer High Honors is a total revelation, putting together some of the silkiest and most replayable instrumentals of the album (although he might’ve gone a bit too heavy with the background echoey female vocals).
On the same song, Steve God Cooks – another excellent feature – adds that “You ain’t made it till they sayin’ you changed”. Well, Dave’s problem might be that he doesn’t change: he’s always solid, but never more, often lacking any real spark. Is “Karma 4” just one more Dave East joint ? Probably. It’s definitely not as sharp as “The Final Call”. At times it’s self-indulgent, as his lyrical output certainly could’ve been condensed into less than 26 songs (for instance, “If money ain’t the topic, why we chattin’?” from “Respectfully” and “If you ain’t talkin’ ’bout this money, it’s the wrong subject” from “Desperation” are basically the same line). But at the end of the day, it’s still a fine coronation of yet another successful year away from major labels for Dave, and further proof one can impact the culture while remaining fiercely independent.