Bass-knocking beats and a slurred flow may not sound like a great combo on paper, but Dom Corleo has carved a niche for himself in the underground by making these two opposites attract. From “Penthouse Shordy” to “Ginseng,” his knack for viral samples elevated the impressions behind many of his early hits, but it’s Dom’s presence on the tracks that have been keeping fans around.
Aptly titled On My Own, Dom Corleo doesn’t change the formula that helped put him on with his debut album, but continuously tinkers with it across 16 short, hard-hitting tracks. “Chester Perry” is the song that’s at the center of Dom’s current internet discourse, with as many complaining as there are celebrating the vocal twangs that Dom experiments with in the beginning of the track.
Experimentation has a strange reputation within the underground, with confusion typically leading to hatred rather than any sort of introspection. Dom clearly understands that people hate what they don’t understand, with it really sounding like he’s taking this journey on his own, as the album’s title suggests.
He even raps with a broken voice on “Way Down South,” exclaiming that he doesn’t even have his voice, but goes hard when it’s needed. But with all the layered and ethereal beats laced across this album, it’s hard for Dom not to give each song it’s due diligence on his end. Even so, there’s a mutual understand between the “Penthouse Shordy” rapper and his young audience: the beats go hard, and they want to hear them.
Even his autotuned moaning on “2016” illustrates this point better than I ever could. Have you ever heard a beat so clean, so pristine that you just gotta’ moan and hum along to it? I hope I’m not alone on that.
Along with the album, Corleo released the illustrative music video for “Wake Up,” with the early iPod commercial aesthetic and junkyard setting complementing the song’s aggressive tone and buttery delivery. It’s clear that Dom’s in control of his sound and image, one that will surely be tinkered on with each successive song, mixtape and album to come.
Listen to ‘OMO’ below!
