Dizzy Wright & DJ Hoppa Take Listeners to ”Dizzyland” (Album Review)
Dizzy Wright is a 31 year old MC from Flint, Michigan who actually happens to be the nephew of Layzie Bone & Flesh-n-Bone of the revered Cleveland quintet Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. He eventually broke out on his own a decade ago after signing to Funk Volume & dropping his full-length debut SmokeOut Conversations to critical acclaim. This was followed up with The Golden Ageas well as State of Mind & The Growing Process by once the label dissolved, Dizzy founded Still Movin’ Records & his output since then has been hit or miss to me personally. That being said, I was very much looking forward to this 7th album of his once I found out former Funk Volume in-house producer DJ Hoppa was gonna be on the boards for the whole thing.
“Manifest” is a cloudy opener talking about writing down his goals & what he’ll die for on a whiteboard whereas “24 Hours” with Xzibit goes into boom bap territory asking listeners what they’re gonna do with their day. “Promoter” has a reggae flare to it as B-Real joins Dizzy for a weed anthem just before “Sensitive Minds” returns to glossy boom bap turf talking about coming to take what’s his.
Meanwhile on “Outlaws”, we have Dizzy over a somewhat funky beat comparing himself as such leading into Toxsikk delivering one of the weaker features during “What’s the Rush?” even though I love the solemn piano instrumental & the concept of how real ones can’t just walk away. “On the Move” with Demrick & Reezy works in a cinematic trap beat talking about collecting theirs when it’s due, but then “Let’s Talk About It” takes an upbeat route admitting that he needs to figure out what to work on & what’ll work for him.
Jon Connor comes into the picture for the dark “Ambush” sending a warning to anyone who fucks with them while the song “Escape” with Bliss n Eso is a piano ballad about using music as a form of escapism. The penultimate track “I Can’t Quit” with Omari Hardwick finds the 2 following the previous cut up by encouraging listeners to never give up & “The Ride” is a smooth closer about keeping it 10 toes down until the end.
I still maintain that Dizzy’s output in the last 7 years haven’t impressed me as much as his early work, but Dizzyland is easily the most impressive thing he’s done in a while & one of the best projects of his career. He sounds a lot more focused this time around & DJ Hoppa’s production is just what he needed given the fact that the production on his last few efforts were lacking in my personal opinion.
Score: 8/10
