Painting Pictures

Dieuson Octave’s debut arrived while he was locked up for parole violation and its conflicting moods mirror his mixed fortunes. On haunting opener “Day for Day,” he surveys the streets that raised him, deciding, “I was already sentenced before I came up out the womb”. When “Patty Cake” rolls through on an earworm piano riff though, he’s triumphantly “sipping Belaire in Bel-Air”. Throughout, efficient production places his melodic flow center-stage and his striking descriptions of struggle and success cement him as one of rap’s most exciting new voices.