The Best Rapper You've Never Heard Of, Pt III
Image credit: newnoisemagazine.com
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a Senior at Calvin College studying Graphic Design and Communications. This semester, I’m taking a class entitled “Communicating with Digital Media”, an introduction into how powerful and useful digital media can be, whatever form that may take. We began our semester by reading this book called “The Storytelling Animal”. It’s all about how storytelling is a common characteristic among all humans. As the author says, we really haven’t pinpointed why the activity of storytelling is a thing: from a scientific standpoint, it’s inefficient, unproductive and doesn’t fulfill any basic human needs. From a more philosophical standpoint, it’s a completely different story (yes, pun intended). Now, you’re probably thinking, Micah, I clicked on this article to hear rap, not get a recap of a lecture you heard in class last week. But bear with me! There’s a purpose. Stories bring families together. They bring friends together. Heck, they even bring enemies together. Stories, both fiction and nonfiction, allow us to access our emotions more deeply. They can come in many forms: in movies, TV shows, books, and songs.
This young blood I’m about to introduce y’all to is probably the best storyteller I’ve ever heard. He pretty much just recounts his life through verse. There are no throbbing basslines; there are no production-heavy tracks. In fact, it’s probably the furthest thing you can get from the current state of popular hip-hop and still fall into the same genre. In most cases, it’s simple acoustic guitar chords with melodic piano accompanying and a rhythmic snare drum underlying both. If Desiigner is New York City (or Atlanta?), then this cat is the cornfields of Iowa. If Rick Ross is an Aston Martin (or a Maybach. Or a Beamer. Rick likes cars), then this dude’s a ’97 Camry.
He’s simple.
He’s a storyteller.
He’s Dylan Owen.
I came across Dylan’s music this summer, actually (huge S/O to Spotify’s Discover Weekly – love that thing). I don’t know if I’ve ever had music feel as real to me as I had with Dylan’s that first listen. It’s not that I can relate to the actual events he describes, but I empathize with his verses so naturally. He’s so stripped down and vulnerable you can’t help but yell “I GET YOU DYLAN! YOU AND ME, MAN – WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER!”
Dylan’s twenty-two years old. He released his first album, ‘Senioritis’, six years ago. That, and his two subsequent albums, are basically a memoir of the latter half of his teenage years and his emergence into what should feel like adulthood. His lyrics contain his dreams and nightmares, his yearnings and fears, his accomplishments and regrets. It’s his digital diary, and he’s kind enough to let our prying ears listen to it.
He's found his niche, too. His multisyllabic lyricism and looooong rhyme schemes in which he carries along one topic for what seems like ages gives the impression that he’s not really a rapper. To the ear, he sounds like a poet who happens to have flow. People resonate with that. He’s just a regular guy telling his story, and people get it. They like it. I do too.
Let’s listen, shall we?
Bookmarks // Keep Your Friends Close
This is the opening track to his second album, ‘Keep Your Friends Close’. I think it’s a really good song with which to introduce you all, because it acts as his introduction to us, in a way.
Favorite Four Bars: (This is going to be really hard with all of these songs, because he drags the verses out for so long. It’s great. I’ll do my best to keep them to four, but I’ll include links to full lyrics, as well. click on them)
This one’s for anybody who woke up / Without a feeling or a sense of home / And hates being alone ‘cause / Honestly I know how hard it can be to find yourself when you're lost
The Glory Years // There’s More To Life
So this is the first song by Dylan Owen that I ever heard… and it’s magical. I can’t adequately describe the way I felt when I first heard it, I just know that I put it on repeat and listened to it eight times in a row. I literally just lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling. It was great.
Favorite Four Bars: (I’m gonna pick four, but literally, THIS ENTIRE SONG is incredible. It’s one long, never-ending story told by a young man desperate to find the meaning to his seemingly meaningless life. Here’s a link to the lyrics: read them as you listen. It’s powerful)
Man how would you know whoever you are / Without the long drives down the black midnight roads we almost died on / These are the best of times and I don’t want mine back / The glory years I always swore I’d have aren’t here
Everything Gets Old // There’s More To Life
So ‘The Glory Years’ was the lead song off ‘There’s More To Life’, and this is track #2. If a single song is a story, then the album is an autobiography. The songs feed into one another, build off each other. It’s beautiful.
Favorite Four Bars: (You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t click on these links. I’m just sayin’)
Yeah, cause everything gets old / Everything gets vintage, everything let’s go / Until tomorrow when we find a better way to end the century / And suddenly we recognize the people that we’re meant to be
The Best Fears Of Our Lives // There’s More To Life
Track #3 off ‘There’s More To Life’ (Are you following, that it’s a really good album?). There’s not much more I can write at this point, so why try? Dylan is weaving this astonishing tapestry, and we have the honor of listening to it.
Favorite Four Bars: (full lyrics)
Now the pressure inclines / Forget the evidence I’ve never been the adventurous kind / Give me sentences, send in a sensitive sense of denial / Let’s not be selfish, we have the rest of our lives
This Incredible Life // There’s More To Life
Favorite Four Bars: (full lyrics)
Me? I’m just lying on the pavement watchin’ helicopters pass / Drawing circles under heaven in geometrical paths / The chaos spins in sync around me waiting for the leaves to change / From this angle there is nothing left to rearrange
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Dylan Owen is going places. Due to the style and content of his music, he may never explode into the bright lights like he deserves, but I think he's okay with that. His music is all of our lives, whether we can relate or not. He's content with making a soundtrack for us.
All his music is on SoundCloud, and you can download his album 'Keep Your Friends Close' there for free.