DAGHA
“still bringin that heavy mental” – Impose Magazine
Announcing his first solo album since 2014’s Rap Fantastic Boston based emcee, Dagha returns with D-A To The G. To drop this spring, the eleven track effort is entirely produced by long-time ally, DJ Real (Insight, Martiangang). Closing in at over two decades into his hip-hop career, the album is unapologetically late 80’s and 90’s authentic. Not in a retro rose-glasses approximation of the style but direct from two vets who were actually in the culture and making music back then.
That includes braggadocios rhymes filled with metaphors and barbs delivered at a speedy clip over a minimalist electric piano loop, bass stabs and cuts (“Listen To The News”) to tracks that balance head-nodding beats with hard-hitting conscious gems as hard as Boogie Down Productions and Main Source (“To All The”).
Speaking on the forthcoming release, the emcee said “I feel like it’s a statement album from me. At this point, I have a deeply supportive underground fan base and they know my music. This new album applies the same formula of voice, positivity, fun, and banging beats but this time on vinyl. Yes, there are messages but never from a preachy place.”
Among these messages is “Knowledge Over Faith” which the emcee says is about “instead of following blindly to traditions and behaviors passed down from our families and peers use facts and the tools accessible to us to make our own informed decisions.” There’s also “Black Trucks” where Dagha and Ruste Juxx (Boot Camp Clik) warning garbage emcees that time’s up as Dagha says “the ones who are contributing to the current culture of misogyny, addiction and fronting.”
Also guesting on four tracks is Dagha’s original rhyme-partner Cloke (the duo started as B-Boys together in their teens before realizing they were better at rhyming than the emcee crew they were breaking for). The chemistry is definitely evident, with Cloke’s baritone grit and Dagha’s nimble flow.
Speaking on the album Dagha revealed, “I started working on these tracks about five years ago but a lot of things got in the way of finishing them and that includes getting married, having twins, buying a house, Cloke’s career and DJ Real’s hard drive actually died and he had to recreate a number of the tracks.”
In addition to his solo work, Dagha has become an innovator in the education system, creating and running a hip-hop curriculum (as part of Boston Scores) that has been adopted in schools across the nation (one of his classes was even nationally televised while performing for President Barack Obama when he was in office). Many people also know him for his work with Edan (appearing on the celebrated Beauty And The Beat album in 2004 and touring internationally with him) as well as his body of work alongside like-minded emcee/producer Insight (Y Society). In closing Dagha says “I don’t think my passion for hip-hop has diminished over time, even though it may take me longer to release projects, if anything, I’m even more passionate about the music I release.”
Dagha 