Dessa “A Badly Broken Code” Review

The long-awaited release of Dessa’s full-LP effort, “A Badly Broken Code,” is here. Everything we’ve known of Dessa before have been teases and glimpses into what Dessa was truly capable of accomplishing with music. “A Badly Broken Code” is 15 tracks of Dessa’s mix of rapping, singing, and even some acapella.

The album is full of emotion. The listener can even feel emotions simply by the production alone. Add the songwriting of Dessa and the album is a tornado of emotion ready to pick you up, twirl you around for a good 47 minutes and throw you back to ground when it’s all over.

The opening track, “Children’s Work,” brings you right in perfectly. The listener quickly learns Dessa had been a bit different while growing up. “Children are not as simple as we like to think,” sings Dessa in the hook of the song. Dessa juxtaposes herself next to her brother for her childhood, and informs us of her seriousness as a young child. As we continue to listen and after the track is done, it’s easy to see Dessa as the grown lady, who channels all those emotions as a child into songwriting and her music in present day.

One of the strongest and most-perfectly executed songs on the album is “The Chaconne,” which features backing vocals from Matthew Santos. A chilling moment arises in the song when Dessa and Santos exchange saying “how the tides rise.” This is the song to get lost in.

“A Badly Broken Code” is everything someone wants out of a solid hip-hop album these days. Rapping, R&B singing, unique production, and stellar songwriting are all present. The album showcases all of Dessa’s talents and proves that she’s one of hip hop’s leading ladies. It’s brilliant and definitely worth the purchase.

Listen to “The Chaconne”

Purchase “A Badly Broken Code.”

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4. Dessa – “Poor Atlas”
5. Mr. Hudson ft. Kid Cudi – ‘Everything is Broken’

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Features, Music and tagged with dessa, doomtree, review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.