LORD$OFDOGTOWNS’ EPONYMOUS DEBUT ALBUM

How a group of high schoolers made my 2021 album…

And one deep late night Spotify dive, I found them.

If you try and Google them, you won’t find them. Even if you go to the effort of spelling their name as stylised all caps, no spaces and dollar sign included — LORD$OFDOGTOWN. All you’ll find are search results for a 2005 biographical drama that was directed by the same chick who did the first Twilight film and in all honesty, I’m surprised hasn’t been taken over by Instagram edit-sphere. This, alongside the fact that the group’s own Instagram only has 3K followers (again, had to dig to find since if you search @lordsofdogtown only fan accounts of the film come and not their actual @lordsofdgtwn) is what fills my inner hipster soul because for once, I’m not late.

The niche background behind the group’s name posits them as another up-and-coming in the long-line of creative teenagers who just wanna make music and skate. Given the short-lived life of Tyler the Creator’s ofwgkta and the slow burn end to BROCKHAMPTON, maybe LORD$OFDOGTOWN is what the world — and by world, I mean hip-hop, needs.

Their 2019 eponymous debut album was a late night discovery as I tapped on the Spotify gaming lounge playlist. Do I game? No. Was I on a whirlwind fall down a rabbit hole as I tried to find new tracks for my June playlist? Yes. At the time of writing this, LORD$OFDOGTOWN’s COMMA$ is the fifth track on the playlist. I’m not sure what made me tap on it. Maybe that many of my favourites have had it?

(RIP to the moniker of Travi$ Scott.)

Or maybe because the song was in good company, coming before Mac’s Good News? Who knows? An inexplicable force in the ether had me tapping on it. And immediately skipping forward randomly. And immediately regretting it because I ruined being able to hear that beat come in. Which is largely one of the reasons why this album is easily one of the best I’ve heard this year. And that’s coming straight after the released of The Off-Season. Suffice to say that the production and mixing of this album is INSANE. Especially when you find out that their album was largely recorded in their “high school’s utility closet.”

LORD$OFDOGTOWN, as a group, is a composed of seven guys — most of which came together by having the same P.E class — Petti, lighttpink, Andre Santi, DKAI, $ixx, MGMTJAVI and abdel.kreation. From what I could make out from their one actual interview with Elevator (that you can read here), Santi, Petti and abdel.kreation are responsible for beats.

In terms of the album as a whole, it’s a pretty good listen. I say ‘pretty good’ because when you take into account the context of the group, it’s fucking amazing to think that some high-schoolers made such a cohesive, self-referential body of music that can be both be listened to casually, individual tracks suiting different playlists, whilst also working as a concept album that can — and should — be listened to in one sitting.

Even though the whole skit feature has pretty much faded into non-existence, I personally welcomed it. It was reassurance that the SoundCloud generation had actually paid attention to albums like channel.orange and GKMC that used the skits to not only tell a story, but bring the listener along and feel like they are in the story. This is clear from how each song ends with a distorted snippet of the next song, sounding like it’s playing in the next room of whatever house party you found on a night out with friends, driving around playing tunes.

There are some lines that made me smile, like “ready for the war, mockingjay,” in which the pop culture reference dates the group. Even without the members talking about their inspirations, it’s all too clear where this album came from. This is due to the XXXTentacion reference “stab a bitch like XX,” (tr. 10/FUCKED UP) or the infamous Nicki Minaj Monster flow sampled on COMMA$ (tr. 9), “stop this, stop this, everybody just stop this everybody know I’m a motherfucking monster.” It’s all too clear to see where this album came from and why it is the way it is. Songs like SHOT$ and F.T.G display the youthful IDGAF attitudes of yet another up and coming group with nothing to lose. That being said, others like PANIC and TALKOFTHETOWN hint at an originality unto themselves that I really, really, really hope they continue to explore.

However youthful beginning aside, the group is also smart enough to see that once momentum gets going, that won’t do: “We like to keep studio sessions in groups of around 3 to 4 to keep the tension low in a sense.” $ixx says. Which is smart considering the history of rap groups and being able to see beyond the the whole ‘all of us fuck with each other!!!!’ phase that every group goes through. From NWA’s very public and very clear fallout to the confusion surrounding Tyler saying Odd Future is still together despite, well, not being together, for LORD$OFDOGTOWN to already be thinking about group dynamic pre-debut album release shows their maturity and — we hope and pray — will be testament to how long they’ll be around.

Especially since after the album was done playing, their Spotify album radio had me adding about twenty seven new songs to my Likes. Without that, would I have ever tapped on a song called Can’t Feel Shit by someone called BIGBABYGUCCI? No. But they lead me to the random, head-bopping groovy track.

But also because they led me here, to have so many emotions about one album that I had to write about it.

2/2s

2 make out 2 = F.T.G / PANIC

2 head bop 2 = COMMA$ / UM

2 be in the feelz 2 = AUTUMN / AI$LE