"It" being the atrocity that is the D4L single, Laffy Taffy, protruding in my car radio speakers. Now I'm sure that most of you are thinking that I am being harsh with that statement but I feel that this song may be a sign of the end of real hip hop as we know it.
Formed two years ago, D4L has seemingly appeared out of nowhere to become one of the hottest, most innovative groups to spring forth from the dirty concrete of the ATL.
All representing different Atlanta projects, D4L Fa-bo, Mook-B, Stoney and Shawty Lo all traded in their street hustles to pursue a new kind of hustle: creating wack ass music. "D4L means down for life," explains Shawty Lo, who put up his own money to launch the group. "And that means everything to me. When I put it all together I wanted it to be big. I was doing my thing in the streets illegally. I went and got a couple of guys that I knew had been working for years trying to break into the music business. I put my dollars behind them and put my street flavor to it and that's what made it happen."
And two years later, D4L is an 'overnight success.'
The noise first started with the crazy, catchy Betcha Can't Do It Like Me and spilled over into Laffy Taffy, the song that has taken radio by storm, garnering thousands of spins and placing D4L on the music industry's radar.
Fabo says the beauty of D4L is that they have learned how to work together as a unit -- precise and synchronized like a well-oiled machine. "Each one of them cats have two or three personalities," he contends. "It's like a car. There's a body, there's an engine. You have to put it all together. It's teamwork. That's what we had to learn." Gee, I wonder what kind of car that would be?
Its not the radio spins or catchy lyrics that irks me about this foursome. While I understand that this song was created in support of the "snap dance" movement that has surfaced in Atlanta, my problem is that this dance is not being accompanied by rappers who can ACTUALLY RAP! Never in a million years did I think I could hear a group a rappers that could make the Franchise Boys sound like Wu Tang Clan. Can somebody tell these dudes to please Step their rap game up!! While we're at it can someone tell me who their A&R is so we can have his job too?
But maybe there is a ray of hope.
I guess that every time I hear D4L's songs play on the radio, maybe I can find solitude in the remembering the career paths of Tag Team, Lumidee and Philly's Most Wanted and pray that they assume the same fate.
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