Grant JonesThe punny title of the latest Dillon & Batsauce record is precisely the type of nonsense that makes me love rap more than ever as I approach forty years old. Depending on how you say it, it can be interpreted in all sorts of different ways. Regretful: what have we DONE? Straightforward nostalgia: WHAT have we done? Accomplished – What HAVE we done? Or just straight-up dismay: WHAT HAVE WE DONE? The decision to exclude a question mark only confuses things further, but reading the duo’s Bandcamp page and seeing that they couldn’t care less over how it is read, means I’ve been scratching my head for the last six months for no reason. Hey, I’m knocking on a bit these days, and this is my 500th review for the website, so you’ll forgive me for overanalyzing some throwaway line, even if I won’t apologise for not deleting this redundant introduction.
One of my favourite albums is Jonwayne’s “Rap Album Two” (which we still haven’t reviewed) and Dillon’s delivery certainly reminds me of Jon’s. He also looks like him, a bearded white man with a bit of podge. Hey, these are his words (“I’m pudgy, and if I had my shirt off, everyone would judge me”), but there’s a more direct and self-deprecatory quality to Dillon that separates him from other emcees, and that’s ignoring the fact that he’s been around for a minute – longer than Jonwayne anyway. “I’ve got talent as long as no-one asks me to dance” he quips on “Cannonball”, the fun duet with Brand Nubian’s Grand Puba that is one of the album’s best tracks:
Dillon has a very deliberate, matter-of-fact feel to his rhymes, grounded in reality with one eye constantly looking up at his target that’s so often out of reach. There’s a sense of doubt behind every song’s lyrics, which means it’s rife for comedic content, but also ensures he connects with the listener with pretty much every line. He knows he’s an underground rapper, but shows his appreciation on “Accolades”, admitting that greed is one addiction that he won’t fall foul of. It’s great to hear Reef the Lost Cauze again on here, now a calmer presence on the mic rhyming about his family.
The music may get a bit too goofy for some, but there are stories on offer. “Isiah Thomas” is the true story of Dillon bumping into the legendary basketball player of the late 1980s, and having a game of HORSE. There are battles with anxiety on “Rock Bottom”, and philosophical moments on “Make History”. Something that’s prevalent throughout the album is Dillon’s knack for crafting hooks – these are all actual songs with identifiable differences, which may sound bizarre as a compliment considering that should be a prerequisite, but it’s becoming a rarified art these days. “Wakin’ Up Hungry” with Headkrack highlights Dillon’s ability to just rip apart a beat. This grimy horn-driven number sees the two emcees getting their money’s worth out of Halloween costumes with a delightfully low-budget video:
I also enjoyed “Goin’ Viral”, a refreshing jab at the continued reliance on statistics to gauge success online, with Dillon wishing to go viral before he dies. It’s a fun, reference-heavy song that is wishful thinking more than anything, considering part of Dillon’s appeal is his workmanlike approach to rap. His twenty-year journey is the antithesis of someone immediately going viral and then inevitably falling off into obscurity compared to building a steady brand, fanbase and catalogue.
When Dillon remarks “I’ll be doing this until I’m more than forty”, it’s a line many may dismiss as another old head still saying they are doing this for the love, but it’s one that caught me off guard. Whether you’re making beats, spitting bars, picking up a turntable, or writing a review on a niche website – if you enjoy doing it, keep doing it. Have fun with it. We’re not here forever, and listening and creating is a beautiful thing in this world of artificial intelligence and a breaking Internet. Dillon and Batsauce want to make history, and while their audience will probably always be a fraction of what their efforts deserve, they will continue to pick up new fans with records as fun as “What Have We Done”, unknowingly making marks on listeners around the world.