Psychodrama (studio album)
by Dave

Best hip-hop album of the year in my opinion.

From Mattdup279 04/19/2019 20:40 | #235239

Rivals the new American Football album in being the most overrated snoozefest of the year so far.

From Graeme2 04/12/2019 06:50 | #234811

Listened to this a few times. However the lack of beats that didn't matter at first becomes more of an issue with further listens. Otherwise the music and lyrics are fine.

From LebowskiRams 03/28/2019 06:39 | #234109

Pretty mediocre, but Lesley shows Dave's ceiling. It's an amazing song. Psychodrama's enthralling lyrics make this listenable over the mediocre to outright lame instrumentals.

The subject matter of his songs make me excited to see him grow

This album is extremely overrated. All goes well, of course, Dave's storytelling and lyricism abilities are remarkable at times on the album, but they are wobbly at times. I'm not going to say that Dave has a generic and boring flow but I almost fell asleep listening to the album. The concept is cool, but it is not executed as convincingly as it could have been. Above all, the rhythms of this album are boring and generic. They all use the same piano and this makes the songs that are not super lyrical really boring to listen to. Overall, this album is not as good as it could have been with a more concrete concept and more interesting productions. Really overrated by the critic.

6/10

PSYCHODRAMA is the first album to completely deliver on the promise UK hip hop has shown in the past few years. There's been some good records in the grime scene, most prominently Skepta's 'Konnichiwa' and Wiley's 'Godfather', but for the most part even the best of these feel like a modern update of a subgenre that was better 15 years ago. UK hip hop that doesn't fall under grime has provided some great singles but only Kojey Radical's 'In God's Body' really came together as an album. Dave has been one of those rappers who puts out hit and miss singles and there's been a pretty clear pattern of the serious tracks being great and the party tracks being forgettable.

Fortunately of the last two singles Dave released it's 'Black' that makes it onto PSYCHODRAMA, not 'Funky Friday'. 'Black' is an excellent political track that tackles institutional racism and is so necessary right now. There's no shortage of brilliant music from the US discussing race but it's staggering how little this conversation comes up in the UK where a post-racial myth has gone largely unchallenged by both sides of the political divide.

Other highlights on the album include 'Psycho' an uncomfortable but powerful expression of mental health and the circumstances surrounding it. J-Hus featuring 'Disaster' sees the two rappers go back and forth detailing the ways in which fame has changed their lives. Closing track 'Drama' is even more expressive and honest than 'Psycho' and is the perfect way to finish the project offering as much positivity and closure as you can get on an album this grim.

As good as these tracks are they pale in comparison to centrepiece 'Lesley'. It's one of the very best storytelling tracks I've heard in years and its success comes down to a combination of emotional connection and its necessary but overlooked subject matter. Changes in perspective also allow Dave to discuss the pain caused to several groups of people as a result of the track's subject. I won't go into the subject matter of the track here because the best way to get the full impact of the track is to just hear it instead of seeing it described first.

There are a couple of drawbacks. 'Purple Heart' is a pathetically corny track featuring some of the least sexy lines I've heard in a while. The star sign puns are also on another level of painful. 'Location' is nowhere near as bad but lags way behind the quality of surrounding tracks and becomes completely forgettable.

In spite of a few missteps PSYCHODRAMA is a fantastic album which shows Dave reaching new heights (worth keeping in mind that he's only 20). His gloomy delivery and subject matters are so reflecting of modern Britain and its multitudes of problems and injustices. The personal core of this record is particularly strong and really sets Dave apart from his peers, he's got a real talent at building an emotional connection to his more serious tracks. 'Lesley' in particular shows a talent that very few in the music scene have. All 11 minutes of it are viscerally written and emotionally draining. As depressing as a lot of PSYCHODRAMA is there's still an overwhelming feeling that when these subjects are expressed so competently it can start the conversations in society to help us do better.