It’s a little surreal and a somewhat unnerving at times just how underrated some of the most lyrically talented hip-hop artists are. While the world praises – and rightfully so – lyrical geniuses as potent as J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, the love for the prolific wordsmiths comes few and far between. Amongst many rappers who hold true to the notion that songwriting and sharp lyricism are the strongest pillars of hip-hop’s illustrious history, few if any bring to the table what the Bronx’s Dot Demo does. 

 

The young artist and old soul whose career has been defined as somewhat of an antithesis to the stereotyped SoundCloud era and highlighted by the meditative anthem, Roberto Clemente has made it common practice to release the majority of his material on SoundCloud. His newest project – NAHFORREAL’– lives up to just that premise while taking Dot Demo’s aesthetic to the next level. 

 

It’s not that we ever go long without new music from Dot, who just this year put out the EYE$ WIDE $HUT EP, but NAHFORREAL’ feels much more like a culminative full-length to follow up 2016’s Outer Body Experience. As is to be expected, there’s nothing outstandingly fancy about the project. And that’s by design.

 

What it lacks in ornamentation, it more than makes up for in raw writing. Even the track’s most mind-numbingly addicting track, WOK is a volatile example of Dot’s ability to both rap within the styles that have made melodicism the keystone of modern hip-hop, while also doing it better than any melodic trap star. And that’s only one example. Through and through, NAHFORREAL’ is simply an exhibition of a poet doing what most modern SoundCloud rappers wish they could.

 

The project is bound for underratedness and that’s a shame because with it, Dot Demo is deadset on proving his superiority and deserved stance amongst rap’s lyrical elite.