Xrabit & DMG$ - 'Hello World' (Big Dada) released 17/03/09

DMG$ are Texan rap duo Trak Bully and Coool Dundee and their producer Xrabit is from Berlin and based in London, 'Hello World' indeed. Hip-hop is not famous for it's sensible names, so Xrabit & DMG$ obviously fits in well with that genre. The name might be wacky, but luckily the music is far from wack.

The first song here, 'Damaged Goods' is not a Gang of Four cover, but a reference to DMG$ original name. Trak Bully sets out the manifesto, telling us he likes "retarded music". Xrabit obliges with woozy synths and a beat that claps and stutters. A fresher piece of hip-hop you'd be hard pushed to find. Next, Coool Dundee attacks his biters on 'Ferris Bueller'... " Be your own cool"

He doesn't follow his own advice, biting Kanye's "try hard, die hard" line from 'Can't tell me nothing'. 'Ferris Bueller' still sounds good, the faster tempo meets the zeitgeist of their Big Dada labelmates Thunderheist. 'Love of my night' balances magical, twinkling synthesizers with a drunken romance story. The party's gone a bit wrong for DMG$ on 'Are we friends', they've been caning a variety of drugs too hard. Thankfully the mood doesn't dip for us, Coool keeps his humour with the ludicrous threat of using a butter-knife to slit his wrists.

'My Stereo' uses the same formula as The Cool Kids, to great effect- new school production, old school rhymes. Coool cleverly references a bunch of hip-hop he played to impress a woman. There's a less respectful attitude on 'Salt Shaker'...
"Shorty come and let me holler while you're picking up them dollars"
The guitar is suitably sleazy for this strip club tale.

Xrabit deploys a similar beat to J-Kwon's 'Tipsy' on 'Follow the leader' and throws in a stressful, whistling kettle noise as used by Public Enemy on 'Don't believe the hype'. 'Same ole' also borrows from hip-hop of yore, there's similar steel pans to Soulja Boy's 'Crank that' and a stock gunshot sound. Trak Bully might be aiming at catchy, but his chorus is cloying instead.

'Dirty South' is a bubbly electro-hop beauty and the closer, 'Cheese' has a chopped 'n' screwed chorus. Xrabit tries his hand at a variety of hip-hop on 'Hello World' and it always comes off poppin'. DMG$ keep pace easily with the varying speeds, distinctive voices playing off each other like Chuck D and Flavor Flav. An impressive work.