A few weeks ago I posted “Slangin,” a collab by two New York artists: the producer DK All Day and the rapper A-Train. At the time I didn’t know they had a whole Mixtape in the works. But, that is awesome. Not long after dropping the “Slangin” single, DK and A-Train rleased their EP Slang-Life which was a pleasant surprise for sure.

Slang Life is five very solid tracks (and two bonus ones):  very smart, funny and powerful raps about struggle and hard work and some great beats, too. While DK produced the majority of Slang-Life, a few other producers make appearances. Mvtt Wvlsh’s cloudy and emotional beats for “Brkn Drmz” and the tape’s outro “Let Me Go” are a nice change of pace from DK’s hard-hitting trap sound. The bonus track “C.H.U.N.K.Y” (what an awesome rap acronym, right?) is over a beat by the appropriate named Trapmaticians.

DK all Day’s sound is something I’ve described as “trap” a lot, but his stuff is experimental for sure. His use of sound effects and synths is really great. I first heard A-Train on “Slangin,” and really dug all the references he made on that track. He keeps that up throughout the whole Slang-Life EP. One of my favorite lines is on “C.H.U.N.K.Y” where he spits “I been smokin…Red & Mef” And he says “Man them rappers washed up them dish rags rung out” on “New Jack City” which is a pretty great image and simple, but super clever metaphor.

You can stream Slang-Life on DK All Day’s Soundcloud. And you can download it from Live Mixtapes.

- Nick Vogt