Here, we have the definition of a totally random album that draws my attention. Damian Lillard, two time NBA All Star and face of the Portland Trail Blazers, releasing a commercial rap album? How could I not see how this goes down? Under the moniker Dame D.O.L.L.A, Lillard has impressed me with brief freestyles and verses before but this is just taking his rap career to another level. I'm extremely intrigued to see what Dame has in store here. Is it better than former NBA stars who got into hip hop? Does he actually have the talent of putting together an album? Let's see what Dame D.O.L.L.A. has cooked up with The Letter O.
This album presents something pretty interesting. While I figured I'd have a lot to talk about with this NBA player getting into hip hop and how bad things could have gone, I instead am left with a pretty run-of-the-mill, admittedly generic rap project. This is one of the many albums you're gonna hear where not much is really done wrong, but there also isn't anything to blow you away. Even though Dame didn't do anything to impress me all that much, he definitely did what he had to do to have a solid, respectable album under his belt. I appreciated how versatile he was on this project, as he seemed to cover a lot of bases. The Letter O featured some hard-hitting bangers, personal stories, romantic tracks, and soul influences. Among all this variety though, Lillard keeps up the theme of his hometown and childhood. I liked how much description he would use to portray his come-up in the city of Oakland and how he got to where he is today. On the tracks Wasatch Front and Growth Spurt, he is definitely giving me a clear visual image of some of the hurdles he's jumped over in his life.With those two songs being at the beginning of the album, it was cool to hear Dame coming out of the gate with a personal, introspective vibe. There are a lot of different types of song concepts here, but I like how this project keeps up the same laid-back, jazzy feel for the most part. It's very satisfying to hear Dame taking the sound of his album so seriously as he clearly put a lot of effort into many parts of The Letter O.
On this album, Damian Lillard really does show off his technical rapping skills, and even though I had heard verses here and there, I was doubting how well he could spit on some real tracks. He has a good flow, sounds comfortable over the beats, and can put a good hook together too. I think the track that most shows off these strengths is Loyal to the Soil. This track is pretty gritty, as Dame spits about the reputation he's built up as a big time star, and how he still wants to be loyal to Oakland, his hometown. He raps at his best on this, and there is even a Lil Wayne feature, something I was thrilled to see. Wayne absolutely rips this track apart, in my opinion. This not only stands out as the best verse by anyone on this album, but simply one of his best verses in a while and one that just makes me want to hear some new Wayne music. On the album opener, Bill Walton, I really thought Dame found a chilled out beat that he sounded perfect on. He came through with some nice bars, NBA-related lines, and an overall solid track to begin the project and introduce people to who he is as an MC. On some of these tracks, Dame and the people he works with flash some moments of versatility, for good and bad. He shows that he does know how to craft some good hooks, such as on the hard-hitting track Roll Call, and Wasatch Front as well. He reaches out to Marsha Ambrosious and Adrian Marcel for some melodic hooks on the songs Thank You and Baggage, respectively. I thought both of these songs were solid and Dame sounded fine on some different production. If I've got any complaints with this album, its that some of the times Dame went outside of the box it didn't work. I was excited for the Juvenile featured-song Legacy, but the song was a total mess in my opinion with a pretty weak-sounding hook. The song Pillow Talk was also the sort of thing that I'd advise Lillard to stay away from, cause he does other types of songs a lot better than how he approached that. Overall, this album definitely doesn't have anything amazing that will blow me away, but was I expecting that? No. Dame D.O.L.L.A. put out a solid project with a clear understanding of songwriting, production, and putting together some nice verses. The multi-talented Damian Lillard showed me that he can more hold his own when it comes to music.
Wrap Up
+Well put together tracks, clear cohesion and sound going throughout
+Dame proved he can not only spit verses, but be versatile and deliver hooks
+Emphasis on his personal come-up that made it interesting
-No moments to REALLY impress me, run-of-the-mill and generic overall
-Takes a few risks that don't work in his favor
Best Tracks: Loyal to the Soil, Bill Walton, Roll Call
Worst Track: Pillow Talk
7.3/10
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