Dave B: Pearl Review

By Isaac Muñoz
Rap Music Journalist

Artist: Dave B
Album: Pearl
Release Date: November 16, 2017
Website: https://soundcloud.com/davebmusic

Originating from Seattle, Washington, Dave B delivers refreshing music that comes with bright and upbeat sounds to lighten any mood. He moved to Chicago to attend Columbia, but it unfortunately didn’t work out for him and he moved back to Seattle. He began creating music and released two other successful projects before Pearl: Punch Drunk and Tomorrow. From the recognition he received from his work, Dave was able to work with other Seattle natives, Macklemore and Travis Thompson, on a song together called “Corner Store.” His latest project, Pearl, is a definite stand out from the catalog of music he has released within the last three years of his career.

We enter the album with a a funky, melodic tale of how Dave is getting “wasted again” and how he wants to call the girl that is on his mind. “& Again” is a well-produced song that carries the listener through the ups and downs of a moment where you want to call someone while drunk and knowing that moment is not the first. With this song, we begin to recognize the storytelling and emotion evoking skills Dave possess in the song.

“& Again” is followed by one of my favorites off the project called “Scrolling.” Immediately we enter the song with him not knowing how he is going to accomplish his goal of “doing better.” The first verse is a list of things he’s doing, stating “Avoiding all my dues,we just drinking sh*t/Smoking, thinking sh*t, ’till my muse hit me, ride me like ‘swell.’” That leads right into the chorus of him saying until he accomplishes that list, Dave is going to be “scrolling.” Obviously, he is referring to being on his phone and just passing time until he can achieve his goals. In the second verse, Dave doesn’t hold back any feelings by stating “People suck/ friends are the worst,” and how he “likes being rude.” Through all this, Dave is going to be still scrolling through his phone showing how he doesn’t care about the people that “suck.”

Four tracks later, we jump into the ninth track “Peakin.” Another favorite of mine that entrances you with the bass, traps your attention with a guitar, and ties you up with Dave’s flow that you can’t help but bob your head to. A song with a chill bounce that tells the tale of him simply getting high in a car with his girl. He enters the song feeling confident in himself by stating “I look like cinnamon/With brown sugar/On coffee cake/This melanin/No preserves, no aftertaste.”

A project filled with diverse tracks that make it almost impossible to label it one genre. This project is a funky, rap,and soul album that tell stories of heartbreak, desire, and just passing time by scrolling on your phone. Dave B proves to be an artist that we should keep an eye out for in 2018.