In a genre as rooted in storytelling as hip-hop, nothing—not a way with words, or an ear for hooks—is as valuable as an interesting perspective. The Last Artful, Dodgr certainly stands out in that regard: she’s a queer black woman from Portland, Oregon—not exactly a city known for its hip-hop scene. However, she also draws a great deal of inspiration from her hometown of Los Angeles, the nucleus of west coast rap. Growing up in the Midcity neighborhood, Dodgr had a front-row seat to the turmoil of the L.A. riots, a fact that she nods toward in her stage name: it’s not just an L.A. Dodgers pun wrapped in a Dickens reference, it's also an allusion to dodging bullets.
Knowing this connection, it’s hard not to hear echoes of the L.A. rap landscape in Dodgr's music: Kendrick’s melodic moments, Vince Staples’ barbed delivery, the sing-songy cadence of Boogie. Still, Dodgr’s voice is a distinctive instrument, a sharp, nasal sound that she bends into a variety of shapes. More so than with her peers, it’s hard to draw a line between her rapping and singing—in her hands, everything feels guided by a strong sense of melody. For her second full-length, Bone Music, she’s partnered with Neill Von Tally, a Portland producer whose au courant beats draw a great deal of inspiration from the atmospheric moodiness of Noah “40” Shebib and Clams Casino.
Bone Music takes its name, at least in part, from the Soviet-era practice of bootlegging banned records using X-ray film. It’s a timely reference to censorship, not to mention a fitting title for an album whose focus on the alienation of labor is near-Marxist. “All you ought to do is work/Knee pad keep to the dirt/Mine all life long/Die young, then you die young,” Dodgr raps on “LLC" before instructing, “If I die, play my beats.” Even when she's stunting, her boasts are undercut by the realities of working-class life. “I made 24 dollars on my night shift...And I’ma spend it all/Spend it all on me,” she sings on the lurching “Bleu Replica,” wherein she tries to distract herself from a cheating lover by spending what little she’s made at the club.
In the world of Bone Music, sex and death are the only escapes available from the daily grind; accordingly, more than a few of these songs focus on the former. Take the lead single “Oofda,” an escapist bedroom jam (“Spoil ya baby/Explore your cravings”) cloaked in a darkly shimmering beat. The two-part “Good/Gravy” mines similar territory, segueing from a double-time rapping workout set to gated house synths to a back-half that sounds like the sparks thrown off by some futuristic machine. There’s romantic tension here too, most notably on the airy “Foreclosed,” which finds guest vocalist Natasha Kmeto playing Dodgr’s yearning foil (a different version of the song, sung by Dodgr, appeared as “Foreclosure” on last year’s Fractures EP).
With Bone Music, The Last Artful, Dodgr assuredly steps into a lane that’s hers alone. And while her perspective certainly sets her apart, she’s hardly leaning on her identity here. Rather, Bone Music finds Dodgr extending her viewpoint into an exercise in broader, more allegorical storytelling. In an era where most rappers appeal to their listeners’ aspirations, Dodgr aims instead for reliability, zooming in on harsh realities rather than well-heeled fantasies. It’s an unusually grounded mindset for a promising young rapper, one that will likely serve her well as her profile rises.
