Amongst a canon with more depth and consistency than just about any other rapper in the modern hip-hop scene, it’s hard to detail just where it is that Dom Kennedy’s From the West Side With Love series of tapes and albums falls into the equation. Rather, into the greater algorithm of unapologetically West Coast hip-hop over the past decade-and-a-half, Dom’s lackadaisical flow and lyrical ferocity juxtapose one another with distinct fervor and Summer-tinged sunshine through the sequence of projects that now number three and span an eleven-year stretch. Ten years since its second iteration – an album that may very well be the most definitive not only in Dom Kennedy’s career, but also in the space of hip-hop collections built particularly for coastline drives with the windows down and warm weather rooftop kickbacks with friends – the Leimert Park legend is back to extend the feeling of Summer – at least through music – a little longer.

 

From the Westside With Love Three is an exhibition of the timeless nature defining Dom Kennedy’s auditory aesthetic. Formulaic but never predictable, his sound is as individualistic and refined as anyone’s in music. There’s no mistaking his work for someone else, and his latest is proof that even as a father figure of the modern West Coast cloth, he’s still got something to surprise his loyal listenership. Owning the classic South-Central mixtape nature that the majority of his work long has, and that the From the Westside With Love trio has in particular, its third installment opts for cool R&B chords in favor of the high-key, Dre-influenced synth progressions that the previous two were strewn with. The result is a dynamically mellowed, endlessly listenable 15-pack of new Dom tracks that still tethers itself to an ever-consistent Dom from a decade ago. Timelessness ensues, as does a mark on the timeline of his own continued evolution.

 

“Working on From the Westside With Love Three and being done with the project is a musical journey. I consider all three of them part of a great trilogy, but this one definitely takes it to new heights, it stands alone as they all do for sure,” Dom said in a press release. “I tested myself, I learned a lot, I pushed myself, I critically looked at my career from what I did recently and in the past... all the good and bad, I had to be honest and a lot of self-reflection went into this album. I intended to release this over the summer. But there was a lot more that I had to tap into within myself in order to get this done the right way. This project was a personal experience, I know this album is a true reflection of my life and career up until this point.”

 

A sound that has long also tethered itself to a curated balance between the late 90’s, the early 00’s, and everything since, Dom’s sound is nothing if not defiant in the face of the trendy changes of pace that consistently dictate the short run, but always fly in the face of what really lasts. Instead, everything Dom has done – everything he continues to do – perseveres, slowly, steadily, and surely building his own legacy on top of the foundation he dug when he first earned mainstream notoriety with 2008’s 25th Hour mixtape.

 

Now, in 2021, From the Westside With Love Three opens to the tune of Still Grind’n – an ode to 2010 track Grind’n which defined the early moments of From the Westside With Love II. Where then vinyl scratches and synthesizers laid his track-by-track foundation and more high-energy hip-hop anthems demarcated a California party aesthetic, in 2021, Dom’s production is perhaps the thing that has changed the most, and in suit, so, too, has changed the overarching experience of a listen. Still undeniably rooted in the long, storied beatscape of South-Central Los Angeles, with a decade of experience has allowed an evolved a steadily more understated and low-key affinity for beats both dreamily immersive and blue-toned floaty. Muffled samples like those taken from the project’s next bop, Don’t Walk Away, allows he and fellow prolific poet of the Southern California styling, Quentin Miller, to effortlessly glide from verse to verse. A bass-ridden pulse and a more uptempo pace proves that, on tracks like the album’s third, On the Run, Dom’s still more than capable of putting together a thought-provoking, energy-evoking anthem. And simply just from the first three tracks, it’s easy to see where he’s taking From the Westside With Love Three through a macro lens.

 

Where that is, is simply a honed, refined, and ultimately new iteration of a long-established and incomparably unswerving run from one of hip-hop’s most understatedly influential names. Listen to From the Westside With Love Three, and hear more than an evolved space from where Dom’s own sound was born. Hear, too, so much of what you hear from other artists that have for more a decade taken notice, taken notes, and ultimately taken cues from a rapper that has made one of the most long-windedly dynamic careers out of a simple West Coast beat pack, a slow and steady flow, and a whole lot of punch-lining charisma. In that identity exists Dom Kennedy’s genius as a rapper that is still doing what rappers were doing at the beginning of proper hip-hop emceeing. And in that formula exists nothing if not longevity and perma-relevance. Like the entirety of Dom Kennedy’s canon, From the Westside With Love Three deserves a listener’s whole attention, for all 15 tracks, for all 43 minutes, for all the stylistic spaces through which he maneuvers.

 

For fans of the most old-school of Dom nuance, listen to the album’s titular inclusion. For those searching for his oft-sultry R&B-esque anthems, find those feelings in Deep Thought, Star Baby, and Come Home. For the good-vibes, classically California rap psalms that soundtrack hip-hop’s collective Summers, check out The Other Side, Valet, and LAX. For fans of Dom in general, which is to be a fan of the most old-school and influential of hip-hop’s tenets, listen in full, again and again.

 

OPM.