BossMan Dlow’s dope-dealing motivation rap exploded at exactly the right moment. Inflation is everywhere. Trips to the grocery store are backbreaking. Jobs would rather lay off workers than give them a couple extra dollars. Turn on the TV or go on social media and it feels like everyone is getting money but you. With these very real anxieties in the air, Dlow’s reckless, turnt-up anthems about chasing the bag and upgrading your lifestyle can feel damn near spiritual.
That was the case with “Get in With Me,” his January single that went from regional Florida rap barnburner to viral sensation and nationwide hit, mostly because he sounds like a life coach: “You wanna boss up your life? All you gotta do is get in with me.” This February, I was in Phoenix with a few friends for a wedding, and the nickel-and-diming of travel had worn us down. After a night at the club spent slow-sipping drinks to stretch our thin wallets, “Get in With Me” came on the radio during the drive home. We blasted his vivid imagery of jewelry, sports cars, and hibachi restaurant dinners and for a few minutes, we felt rich as hell.
“Get in With Me” is the lead single on Mr Beat the Road, the Port Salerno-bred rapper’s first mixtape since entering the mainstream fold. At 17 tracks, it’s a pedal-to-the-metal blur of hustler’s ambition and fantasies about all the irresponsible shit you can do with too much money. Dlow is not a versatile rapper. The Michigan-meets-the-South party beats are formulaic and his one-note celebratory punch-ins mean that the mixtape is full of lesser variants of “Get in With Me.” The good news is that “Get in With Me” is such a shot of adrenaline that even B-tier versions of it still make you want to act a fool.
When Mr Beat the Road brings to mind the grind and glory of Southern rap albums of the past, it’s not the emotionally complex ones that sound as if they’ve survived war, like Jeezy’s TM101 or Webbie’s Savage Life, but the hard-earned flash and opulence of a Big Tymers project. In that duo, Birdman and Mannie Fresh were two limited rappers getting by on swag and embellishment, with a deadeye focus on all the rims and chains their years of grueling work had gotten them, rather than the work itself. Mr Beat the Road is pretty similar. The recurring background sounds of scraped pots, flickering burners, and rubber on pavement remind you of the hustle, but mostly Dlow’s having a good-ass time. His greatest attribute is that he can’t wait to tell you how large he’s living, an excitement so contagious that rapping along feels like part of the experience.
Lyrical repetitiveness works in Dlow’s favor because the songs are so easy to memorize. I pop when he hollers about his shopping sprees—$1,300 at Prada, $1,250 at Lanvin, and $1,500 at Balenciaga, to name a few—or comes up with yet another way to say he’s liquid: “Pockets full of (clucking sound) I’m starting to walk like a chicken, nigga,” he raps on the uptempo “Talk My Shit.” Another recurring bit refers to blowing past the speed limit, like on standout “Mr Pot Scraper,” when he shouts, “The way I’m drivin’ the (vroom) I just might wreck or somethin’.” (Inserted sound effects are one of his preferred methods of communication.) Sometimes he gets so amped that his words bleed together, like when he raps, “I be pullin’ up in a, what kinda fuckin’ car is that?” on “Trippin’,” fumbling slightly through the bar like he can’t even believe it himself.
His guests are game, too. Rob49 sends the already fired-up “Lil Bastard” into another gear by doing that thing where he squeezes way too many words into one bar. Sexyy Red’s raunch shines on “Come Here” as they connect for a cut that should have strip clubs on lock. When Dlow slows it down a notch on “Boss Talk” and “Mike Smiff,” it’s a buzzkill—sacrificing that blast of charisma and motivation for something closer to Moneybagg Yo-core radio rap. That could be a glimpse into his future, though I hope not. Even if his current style is lean and samey, it’s rarely boring. The static mainstream rap landscape could use a voice who actually makes you want to crank the volume all the way up.
