Why talking about Dope D.O.D.? Basically they are the last group, in order of time, I discovered. But they’re not the last arrived that make you say: “ok, they’re just average”. They distinguish themselves, they stand out. Even if they’re nothing like “I never heard something of this genre”. And genre it’s the word, because Dope D.O.D. made of fusion of genres their own flag to wave. The fundamentals are hip hop, no doubt, but they add drum and bass, dancehall, electronic, grime (a made in UK fusion of genres itself). They’re not the first in this, but it’s a sign of a trend, even rap can open itself to contamination, it’s not a kind of music which turn up its nose when someone goes outside a railway of rules – I admit, I don’t even consider pop rap like Black Eyed Peas, Lil’ Wayne, Drake, Kanye West, because it’s pop, NOT RAP. Plus, they are Europeans, Dutch of Groningen to be precise, even though you wouldn’t tell by their perfect English.
Dopey Rotten, Skits Vicious and Jay Reaper – two names out of three that recalls Sex Pistols to show a background which also includes punk-rock – don’t have classical rappers appearance, except Jay. The other two are white, have long hair or half crest- half shaved head. In the track Ridiculous Rotten clearly says “more rock and roll than any hip hopping”, Skits always wears contact lenses with a demon or vampire eye effect. Anyway, the occult influences are blatant once you know the meaning of their group name, a synthesis of Dopey Rotten and Duo Of Darkness: Dope D.O.D.
Success for them comes between 2011 and 2012 with the track What Happened, thanks to their mix, result of a bunch of factors that they build together in the moment they are gathered to write a disc, that’s what they revealed in interviews. “We sit around a table and work hard on loops our producer created, discussing with each other”. The atmosphere of every track is conditioned by the mood and the feelings generated by the beat built with teamwork. And opening concerts of Korn and Limp Bizkit, gods of Nu Metal, has been and honor and a responsibility, dealing with Nu Metal fans . “We convinced a lot of people and obviously they’ve been great shows”, Korn and Limp Bizkit “are legends!”.
Then arrived rap heavy weights, but no opening shows, equal collaborations now: Sean Price, Redman, Onyx, German producers Snowgoons (Europe, once again). We could talk for long about those who came before Dope D.O.D., whether rockers with hip hop influence like Korn and Limp, but also the meteor Linkin Park and the virtual band Gorillaz, or the opposite, like Necro and Ill Bill, Ice T, Insane Clown Posse and Esham, just to make a few names.
Contamination of genres, you can hate it or love it, for sure you have to deal with it. And it’s not music for purists.