October brings a new artist to the blog / pod, and one that has created one of my albums of th year, Dahi’s Black Boy (Alternative). Cards on the table, until a few months ago I had no idea who Dahi was, though he has been present in my music sphere for many years.
Dahi has spent the last decade making other artists sound unforgettable. He produced Kendrick Lamar’s “Money Trees” and has helped shape records for Drake, SZA, Travis Scott, Vampire Weekend and countless others. His name might not be familiar to everyone, but his fingerprints are all over modern music.
Now, on Black Boy (Alternative), he steps out from behind the curtain. The question is whether a producer known for elevating other people can create a world compelling enough to stand on its own?
The answer arrives almost immediately. This isn’t a conventional producer album, but something far stranger and more ambitious. Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Vince Staples, Channel Tres, Moses Sumney, Amber Mark and others appear throughout, yet nobody sounds like they’ve simply dropped in for a feature. They sound like they’ve entered Dahi’s world — and that world feels unlike anything else being released right now.
That’s what makes the album so good: it doesn’t really feel like a producer album at all.
You know the type: famous producer, enormous guest list, a succession of big-name artists doing what they normally do while the producer provides the backdrop.
This isn’t that.
This is Dahi’s album. He’s front and centre, and everyone else seems to have joined him for the ride. Kendrick appears on “How To Pray”, Childish Gambino on “Running”, while Vince Staples and Channel Tres feature on the opening track. Moses Sumney, Amber Mark, Fousheé, Baby Rose, Ravyn Lenae, Elmiene and others weave in and out of the record.
Rather than sounding like a collection of separate collaborations, they somehow sound like they’ve joined the same band.
That’s the magic of it.
Dahi has described the music as something close to “African Radiohead”, and the more you listen, the more you understand what he means. There’s hip-hop, obviously, but also 90s alternative rock, West African rhythms, soul, jazz and electronic textures. Guitar is everywhere, but rarely in the way you expect.
There’s something wonderfully unhurried about the album. It isn’t chasing a trend or trying to prove how clever it is. It sounds like someone finally getting the opportunity to make the record that has been sitting inside their head for years.
And apparently, it has been sitting there for a long time. Dahi has spoken about the project taking around twelve years to become what it is, with the idea dating back to his time at Def Jam. The album was reportedly finished more than two years ago and then quietly waited for its release.
That somehow makes the finished record even more satisfying.
Black Boy (Alternative) doesn’t sound like an album trying to catch up with the moment.
It sounds like it has waited for its moment.
“Who Are You” is an incredible introduction. “How To Pray” brings Kendrick into Dahi’s strange, beautifully constructed universe. “Running” with Childish Gambino feels effortlessly cool, while the groove of “Rest of Your Life” is impossible to ignore. Then there are quieter moments like “Drowning”, where the production is given room to breathe and you begin to realise just how much is happening beneath the surface.
There’s a looseness to it, but also incredible detail.
You can hear Radiohead’s influence in the space and Fela Kuti’s in the rhythm, but these influences never overwhelm the record. They’re ingredients in a sound that Dahi ultimately makes his own.
And maybe that’s the point. For years, he’s been the person helping other artists sound like themselves. Now he’s made a record where everyone else has had to sound a little bit like him.
It’s modern without feeling disposable. Experimental without being inaccessible. Familiar without ever becoming predictable.
Most importantly, it’s a joy to listen to from beginning to end.
