We Plug To You… DC

DC is an emerging artist from Greenwich, who has been taking twitter by storm with his 3-part rap freestyle series Gleamin’ as well as various other tracks which have been championed by local community radio stations. The essence of London sips through his music, as not only does he mostly rap over well known London originated instrumentals, but he also sets the scenes of his music videos in and around where he is from, adding to the authenticity of his music and also himself as a rapper.

From the first listen of “Goku”, we fell in love with DC. Within its first verse, DC raps, “I’m caressing the beat“, which is exactly what he does on this track and is a reason as to why, as an artist, he is so easy to listen to, because his voice is just so suited to rap. The concept of combining a popular anime show and UK rap will always generate interest especially if you used to watch Dragonball Z as a child.

DC even says himself that Goku is the strongest character in Dragonball Z and in writing the verses for this track, he epitomized that strength allowing him to produce great music. DC seems to conceptualise all it is to be young growing up in London and nowhere is this seen more than in the single’s artwork which sees the cartoon character Goku sitting on the Greenwich train station sign. Listen to “Goku” below:

Another reason DC is set to be the next best thing out of south London is his ear for a good beat. This is evident not only in “Goku” but in his single “Local” which was produced by 23beatss. The instrumental is just as good as his lyrical ability and sick flow, which in combination makes “Local” a heavy track. From his lyrics, we can infer that he is inspired by local homegrown talent-turned-superstar Giggs. And just like Giggs, he lets his lyrics do the talking. With over 80,000 streams across Soundcloud and YouTube, “Local” is doing pretty well. Check it out here:

We’ve chosen “Gleamin’ 3” out of DC’s 3-part Freestyle series that we have dubbed the Gleamin’ trilogy. Firstly, for those of us who do not know what ‘Gleamin’ means, DC has kindly clarified this for We Plug Good Music and it is a term to describe someone that is in a good mood. Both Gleamin’ freestyles prior to this have used revered UK instrumentals such as Tinie Tempah’s “Hood Economics” and Chip’s hit featuring Stormzy & Shalo, “I’m Fine”. So already, we know we’re in for a treat, where the final Gleamin’ freestyle is concerned and we were not disappointed.

If you’re an advocate for bringing UK Garage/Funky House back, then “Gleamin’ 3” is the one for you as DC uses Chipmunk’s old school Garage/Funky House leaning hit “Fire Alie” as an instrumental to lay down some heavy rhymes and he does the beat justice. As an intro, DC pays homage to the old school track with his first bar being: “Yo I’m fire alie” and the rest of the track really is just that, fire. The freestyle was only released days ago, yet the views are already into their thousands. Check out “Gleamin’ 3” here:

DC is definitely one to watch in the UK scene. He takes his influences from the likes of Giggs, J. Cole, Chip and Stormzy, and the variety of inspirations makes DC a versatile artist which can clearly be seen and heard in his music. With versatility also comes relatability to listeners, which is something DC is accumulating bit by bit as he continues to release great music. Watch the rest of his Gleaming parts here.

Keep Tabs on DC: Twitter // Soundcloud

Words by Henrie Kwushue