There’s no keeping up with XRABIT + DMG$ on their debut LP Hello World, but thats doesn’t mean it’s not worth going along for the ride. Texas MC tag-team DMG$ name-check with great effuse, yet with great economy, wringing each reference thoroughly until it pushes narrative, spits game or wisecracks in equal utility. It’s a relentless effort, but it reveals the soul of an indomitably affable dirty south album. Producer XRABIT is aptly named for both the pace and jackhammer thump of his beats that borrow from Detroit and the Bay as much as Houston and Atlanta. Together the trio crafts shout-out-loud hooks over a wide-open bass that could rattle trunks on the road or the dance floor. The result is a trans-phat party album saturated in a sophomoric deadpan with a bold taste refined by its self-awareness.
Berlin-born XRABIT proves to be a surprisingly natural counterpart for his American MCs, despite his geographic removal. He bares a range of worldly influences lightly, fastening non-traditional hip-hop elements to an 808 backbone that often transform tone or mood. For example, by helping himself to a dirty italo-synth line, “Are We Friends” becomes a grimy club number featuring go-go bells on loan from the DFA. DMG$'s hypnotic and sedated delivery of the hook — “I’m so high, truly fly, you inhale smoke, while I inhale sky” — twists it into a bizarrely conflicted anti-drug message.
XRABIT + DMG$ turn in strong bump-and-grind jams as well, notably the big bounce of pseudo-player’s-anthem “Trak’s Promise” and “Thundercats,” a Ying Tang Twins satire that literally purrs. The conspicuously entitled “Party In My Pants” stands out on the strength of its obscurity, referencing Nino Brown, Paula Abdul, and Justin Slayer (who should not under any circumstance be Googled at work.) XRABIT provides the touch of a sinister guitar on a hook that’s hung on the tiptoe peppy organ, like the Grinch replacing a stocking. The song is about exactly what you’d think, but MCs Trak Bully and Cool Dundee each turn in their most cohesive verses on the disc to earn the punchline.
But for all the friendliness and southern hospitality, XRABIT + DMG$ are just putting in work. There’s a charming passivity in the hook of “Ferris Bueller,” a nonchalant explanation: “So cool, everybody wanna be so fuckin’ cool — I’m from Texas, home of the young and the reckless, and we just let it do what it do.” But don’t get hustled. The trio has a plan, and the evidence is “Dirty South,” a hard rep track that lopes like a country line dance. It masquerades as a deep-fried celebration of cornbread and cowgirls, but it settles into a clear refrain: “We gon’ turn the world on to some Dirty South shit.” A lot of yarns are spun on Hello World, but no statement is delivered so matter-of-factly; and yet it doesn’t seem like so much of a stretch if XRABIT + DMG$ continue to run their mouths.
1. Damaged Good$
2. Ferris Bueller
3. Love Of My Night
4. Are We Friends
5. My Stereo
6. Trak's Promise
7. Salt Shaker
8. Party In My Pants
9. Thunderkats
10. Follow The Leader
11. Same Ole
12. Dirty South
13. Cheese