DBE World

On their fourth drop in three years, London’s D-Block Europe expands their universe with more between-the-lines lyrical detail than ever before. The Lewisham collective hit it big in 2017 inventively fusing street rap with melody, and their sound has now thickened—and in many ways, matured—into the immersive world of libidinous adventure and extravagance explored on *DBE World*. As standard, Young Adz and Dirtbike LB again deliver an extensive tracklist. That means ample room for the top tier of UK rap to flex across the mixtape’s 24 songs. DBE is joined by Headie One, Aitch, Nafe Smallz, M Huncho, and more for a project that serves their most incisive and revealing output to date. On 2022’s *Lap 5*, DBE took stock of five years in the game: the wins and losses—and the risks they took to get there. Here, they look to the future with glee: LB is putting money aside for his young daughter (“Domino’s in Order”), while recently married Adz falls deeper in love (“Crying in Chanel”). The trend of each member taking a solo track for a pace-changing detour also reappears to great effect—as LB’s past comes into clearer focus on searing confessional “Forest.” “How much more can I really take?” he asks over booming halftime drums. It’s a bittersweet breakdown that points out past traumas, but also highlights the fuel that steadily fires them forward.

With their Wireless Festival headline set lingering in the memory, one of - if not the most prominent UK rap collective in recent times D-Block Europe