Chicago rapper Davis teams up with Detroit producer Foule Monk for an invigorating album

Davis the Dorchester Bully isn’t rapping too fast—you’re listening too slow. As the Chicagoan says on “Virginia,” a track from his new album with Detroit producer Foule Monk, “Life is as simple as it seems.” And so are his rhymes, even when he serves them up with moments of head-whipping banter.

That collaborative album is called Plum Whisky, and it’s Davis’s second release this year, following May’s four-part single Portrait (Why? Records). It’s a quick listen; its tracks are fast, sturdy, and memorable. Given Monk’s many collaborations with up-and-coming artists, including Defcee and Jackie Scan, it seems he’s able to create quality tracks at warp speed—and that’s a good thing. He places samples knowingly, and his work carries on the tradition of producers who weave thick layers of texture and meaning, such as Madlib and Alchemist. 

Monk mostly plays exploratory and whimsical, deliberately building on foundational samples that often make it sound like a background vocalist is sharing the track with Davis. This keeps things interesting across 13 songs; the buried samples have you listening closer to hear their deeper significance and alignment with Davis’s lyrics. The album’s lone guest is Chicago rapper and Why? cofounder Joshua Virtue, who pops up with imaginative quips and quotables on two features, including a fabulous verse on “Astroblack.” (Davis and Virtue are former roommates who also make delightful music as Udababy.)

The record is peppered with Monk’s instrumentals, which could easily stand on their own, but here they add greatly to a densely satisfying ride, painting in coats of jazz and gospel where you least expect them. The album ends with the infamous “I drink your milkshake!” line from There Will Be Blood, capping off the project with a braggadocious chef’s kiss. People who find honesty and poetry in the mundane bits of life will surely enjoy Plum Whisky.

Davis & Foule Monk’s Plum Whisky is available through Bandcamp.

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