Dusty Locane’s unwelcome debut has arrived.
Dusty Locane’s rise seems to have been immediately after the death of Pop Smoke. Seemingly by chance too since the two went to the same school together. The comparisons are way too apparent however, its everything from the voice to the ad-libs. There are no subtle changes to the style, its Pop Smoke to an uncanny degree.
Despite that he continued to release tracks, and then silence. There was no album, presumably because he wanted to make a wave of his own rather than riding off the back of another’s death. The album was supposedly to release and was once again delayed due to the death of Young Dolph. While it is an extremely humble of him to be so respectable of these deaths, the final product was admittedly not worth the wait.
An interesting move is the use of those loose singles in the track list. These songs usage of samples predated the current sample wave that is going on in the NY drill scene. The usage of them is fairly clever too, “Rollin’ & Controllin’ Pt. 2” features him using the sample as a punchline, something that rappers like Shawny Binladen would continue to build off of on songs like “Georgia.” “Rolando” is another one that uses a sample in such a way. In some ways, Dusty was slightly innovative in he could’ve been at the forefront of the Sample Drill wave.
Despite that, the rest of the songs on the album do not utilize samples. This further makes him indistinguishable from Pop Smoke, the one quality that would’ve made him a separate entity is missing here. If this wasn’t offensive enough, the album showcases his singing techniques. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal, this was something dabbled in on his posthumous album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. Of course, his inflection is indistinguishable from Pop Smoke’s.
The two years between his first songs and this debut should’ve been used to improve craft and disprove the haters. Instead, he further proves any criticism to his work. The scene has already evolved past what Pop Smoke was a part of. So not only does Dusty’s project feel like an unwelcome clone, but it also feels like a distant memory. A remnant of a bygone era of the one of the most ground-breaking scenes in hip hop.