Get Home Safely is the second studio album from LA-native Dom Kennedy under his self-established OpM (Other People’s Money) Company record label. The 29-year-old’s debut installment under the label was From the Westside With Love 2 in 2011. Get Home Safely HomHbfollows up his Yellow Album mixtape from last year, with more than half of its content produced by The Futuristiks. Kennedy’s flavor continues to deem consistent and notable in the hip-hop stratosphere, continually delivering a simplistic style distinct of any conventional “gangster” West Coast rap. The appeal draws from Dom’s slick candor, casually depicting brief narratives of his hometown South Central, Los Angeles, such as the robbery-turned-murder scenario described in the first verse of the glassy opening track, “Letz Be Friends”. But it mainly draws from Dom’s laid-back g-funk, an authentic approach that pulls you into a homegrown lifestyle, staying true to his motto of Hennessey, weed, women, and weather.
“We talkin’ all street knowledge, no college and shit”, Dom professes on the symbolic, lush “Black Bentleys”, one of more than several cuts with his own incorporated hook segue into the song’s opening verse. The same is true of his reminiscent “17” and “After School”, bouncing with driving hi-hats and synth back drops, recounting dreams deferred and his ascension from recycling cans for money. “If It Don’t Make Money” featuring Skeme falls along the same spectrum, hinting at his one-sided financial philosophy. Dom leisurely takes the time to open up candid avenues; “All Girl Crazy” features an oldie sample and expresses his loose and honest encounters with women on the road. Additional vocals from Jazzy aid the attributed “South Central Love”, one of two quasi-love songs from Dom in which he admits; “I don’t want to be alone for another Christmas”. His other deliberate effort is “Tryna Find My Way”, harmonizing with soft chords with intentions of finding his way to a girl.
Dom doesn’t stray too far from the pocket with those emotive segments, but they still represent a facet of his temperament. “Dominic” has a softer, introverted tone with its altered vocal sample, still catering to his women with parties and flights. “Still Callin’” goes back to Dom’s women making him turkey bacon and weed toast, apathetic about the ones who still call. “Erica Part 2” assumes another slow jam aura, the sequel to his “Erica Part 1” from this summer, a condensed verse and vocal bridge for Erica concludes with Dom’s reading of an inspiring letter from his cousin Joey Supreme, who is currently incarcerated. Look no further than the “Honey Buns Interlude” or “A Intermission for Watts” for those jazz-infused, top-down cuts void of any rap lyrics but graced with bass lines and Los Angeles homage.
The script for Get Home Safely is not forcibly bolstered with suspense or dramatic flare, but rather Dom’s innate, unscripted expression of West Coast priorities. The melodious, intended anthem “AMNIG’z” has Dom in his house shoes, visibly on the sofa surrounded by comrades, females, and “so much liquor and trees”. Toasting glasses and banjos on the Krondon-featured “Honey Buns” help exude the sleek effortlessness of Dom’s flow, along with “Pleeze”, the swaying native narration featuring Crenshaw-rapper Nipsey Hussle. Most lyrically astute perhaps is “The 5 Year Theory”; two craftily thorough verses of Dom kicking game, backed by horns and an enjoyable acapella segment.
WHAT WE HEAR from Dom Kennedy’s Get Home Safely is more of his bona fide West Coast flavor, a dependable consistency of even-keel raps flows and homegrown concepts that lure you into his rash routines. The project is another viable indicator of an enduring brand of west coast hip-hop.
Review By. Martin S.
PURCHASE GET HOME SAFELY!
