Written by Danny Veekens.
Kid Sublime is a do-it-all musician. He’s a producer (from hip-hop to house to broken beat), deejay, music teacher for children, label head, former drummer, his own Instagram hype man (“Whoooooooo!!!”), and an emcee since last year’s Dutch rap album Straatcoach. His new record Dosty Vingers on Jazzy Sport once again shows he’s nice on the mic. Rapping over a tasty batch of his own beats that are fat like tosti fingers.
Dosty Vingers is a homage to beats, loops, crate-digging, and good times. A celebration by an artist who is noticeably proud that he’s still going strong after being in the game for twenty-plus years. No wonder Kid Sublime’s rhymes are full of light-hearted fun, humorous wordplay, and a healthy dose of braggadocio. All with a wink, of course. He sure as hell knows his place in this thing called rap; that countless emcees are far more skilled on the mic. On Dosty Vingers, it’s all fun and games. And he’s the first to admit that: “Test, test, check die static op de microfoon / Ik ben geen rapper, man. Ik lul gewoon.”
Instead, he celebrates what he loves most with witty bars. He raps about his gear like the MPC3000 (“Ik ben verknocht aan die 3000 / Zakken puilen uit, ik maak die 3000”), digging for samples at local go-to spots like Waxwell Records, he big-ups friends in skits with a Quasimoto-like voice, and he shows his appreciation for the delicious food by his other half, Vanessa ‘Nessie’ Otten Wattimena. And luckily for him, his home borough ‘Mercatorplein’ rhymes with ‘Wijn,’ which is something he happily exploits.
The beats on Dosty Vingers are, well, the beats he raps about. Banging MPC beats full of funk, flute loops, and dusty samples. The bounce on “De Ummah” shows his love for the mid-90s production outfit by Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Jay Dee. It’s no secret that Kid Sublime is a big fan of the latter. He also hints at that with title tracks “INTRO” and “ALT INTRO” as a subtle nod to Ruff Draft. In a sense, there are more parallels to be drawn there. Kid Sublime’s Dosty Vingers is also fully self-produced; no guest features, all-him—even on ad-libs and in skits. “That real live shit.” Or in Kid Sublime’s own words: “Dosty Vingers, je weet wat dat ding is.”
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