D-Jay delivers the goods in ‘The Gift and the Curse’

By Aina Raiza Kweyo

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The ‘Listen to your Heart’ hitmaker is back with a bang. Arguably one of Namibia’s favourite rappers Diogene Ochs, popularly known as D-Jay, who won the Best Hip Hop award twice in a row at the Sanlam/NBC Namibian Music Awards in 2008 and 2009 is definetely here to stay and change the game.

A glance at the cover, tracklist and the artists feaured on the new album immediately generates high expectations. In his latest offering, hip hop meets kwaito, Namibians seem to love it, which is why D-jay’s track featuring Young T got him nominated for Best Kwaito at the NAMAs this year.

My expectations of ‘The Gift and the Curse’ were all met and I’m glad to announce that listening to this album was not a waste of my time.

THE MUSIC

‘Fire’, featuring Don Kamati, is a perfect introduction to this flaming album. It sets the tone and mood of what you can expect moving forward to track 2. Don Kamati’s voice, whether singing or speaking, is subime and he brings his uniqueness and passion to the song. No wonder it’s called ‘Fire’.

D-Jay’s version of a golden oldie, ‘Siwelewele’, is so refreshing and reminded me of the good old days when I was young and had no care in the world.

“Your boy graduated from the night life, to get you out of the dark chilling in the limelight,” is one of the lines on track 14, featuring Jericho, titled ‘Call Away, in which the artists affirm their presence in those special girls’ lives.

I listened to this song four times, just imagining someone was telling me those sweet words. I found myself changing my ringtone and calling myself from other peoples phones just to hear Jericho’s sexy voice and that beautiful song again and again.

My absolute favourite has to be, ‘Mistaken me’, featuring Young T. The sound is fresh and cool, giving music lovers the best of all worlds in kwaito and hip hop. The beats are catchy and easy to jam along to. Overall the standard of music and the production were up to par.

THE VERDICT

This album is, in my opinion , D-Jay’s best work to date. One can listen to it without feeling the need to skip a song. I also love the fact that there are three bonus tracks on this album. I mean, who doesnt love a good bonus? Shout out also to Deal Done Records, aka Antonia for a great production.