Album Review: 'Dex Meets Dexter'
By Max Smith
The world was introduced to Famous Dex in 2015 with his hit single, “Drip from My Walk”. This song picked up over 28 million streams on Soundcloud and more than 17 million views on YouTube. Since then, Dex had stayed in the underground, no longer producing major singles. This changed in October with his single, “Pick It Up”, where he earned an ASAP Rocky feature.
Dex spoke about how much this record meant to him in an interview with Complex: “It was a great, great look, and it’s a great, great record. It’s a great look for me and my fans. I feel like this record right here will show the world and everybody that I accomplished something. It’s hard to get a track with ASAP Rocky.”
Dex was right. “PICK IT UP” peaked at #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #26 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. “PICK IT UP” also went certified Gold on February 26, 2018. “PICK IT UP” is one of two singles on Dex’s new album, Dex Meets Dexter. The other, “JAPAN”, also did very well upon its release. “JAPAN” peaked at #70 on the Hot 100 and #36 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It’s definitely fair to say Famous Dex has had a good six months.
Famous Dex is not your typical rapper. He is known for his extremely flamboyant attitude, use of autotune, off the wall adlibs and his overall weird, yet exciting music. This is what his fans love about him, and it shines through on Dex Meets Dexter. Songs like “DMD”, “JAPAN” and “CELINE” have you tapping your foot and bobbing your head to the beat, all while smiling.
Image from Apple Music
Dex also shows his flexibility on this album. Songs like “PROVE IT” and “SAID SO” almost enter a different genre entirely, but they were two of my favorite tracks on the album. “PROVE IT” is all over the place, but by the end of the song, everything comes together perfectly. This track features multiple beat switches and at multiple points sounds like a nursery rhyme. He makes it all come together and work to perfection in what is my favorite track on the album. “SAID SO” has a very electronic feel to it and utilizes autotune extensively and effectively. These tracks show the evolution of Dex as an artist, which is what you hope to see on any album.
It’s not a perfect album by any means, though. There are a few songs that could have definitely been left off the album. The album, at 14 tracks, could definitely use some trimming. There are a few tracks that are too similar and much too repetitive; tracks like “XOXO” and “CHUMP” offer nothing new to the album as a whole. However, this is expected on any album and could have been much worse. There is no attempt at any sort of lyricism on this album, but no one will ever expect that from Famous Dex.
Instead, Dex focuses on his flow, hooks and adlibs more heavily in his music. He owns this, though, and is clear in his hilarious adlibs. I laughed out loud multiple times listening to this album at the outrageous things Dex yelled in between lines.
All in all, this is a very solid project from Famous Dex. He does what you would expect from him, but also does more. He is progressing as an artist and becoming much more musically diverse in the process. I will definitely be keeping this album in my rotation for the foreseeable future and recommend it to anyone who wants to listen to a very creative piece that invokes smiles throughout.