Sadie Hawkins - Doomtree

I get annoyed when the hipsters talk about Doomtree and other local rap projects, but there is some great hip hop being produced in Minnesota. A common trait of hipsters is a tendency to be local music aficionados. What disturbs me about this is that we forcefully categorize local groups into the "local scene." I know it is meant as a compliment, like organic food or wind power, but it imprisons the group into a local mindset. Organic food is great, but shouldn't the ultimate goal of organic food be to make it prevalent across all American identities? Instead it sits in its little hipster corner, where they can pay $2 more to feel morally superior to everyone else.


I think the same logic is relevant to local music as well. Yes, the Doomtree rappers are a local group. But I don't think our local pride should get in the way of their classification. We should evaluate the music based on the music, not on the labels it is associated with. If Doomtree is forever plagued by hipster local fans who don't know any of the lyrics, then they will remain a group for hipster local fans, and scarily enough, will shape themselves to adopt to this. And I do not want the talent behind Doomtree to fall victim to the plague that alternative music has already beset upon us teenage music listeners, because I sense something special here.


Dessa is the most talented member. The rest of them are somewhat forgettable. But a little trade secret for girls: female rappers who can hold their own are oddly attractive to men with B type personalities. I'll post a video featuring Ladybug from Digable Planets later in the week to enhance on this point. In the song Sadie Hawkins, Dessa exemplifies this. Speaking in Spanish, I don't know what she says, but it doesn't really matter. It's universally accepted: her voice is hot!

So that's all great and good, she has the edge that it takes to succeed in the industry that few artists possess. But she also has some meaningful, well-written lyrics, such as in the above Sadie Hawkins:


but that's alright because a little bit a melancholy
never really did hurt anybody
even if it's a sickness I'm oddly convinced at least it's honset
when life gets so tragic, comic, a matress with no sheets on it
the, fact is you have it
the, task is to want it


So she has well-written lyrics. But she also does a good job with her speaking rhythms, mixing it up well and adding some unique rhythms to catch your attention, particularly with her voice inflections. Such as:

i need a drink, a doctor, a dj, a shrink, a locksmith, a replay
clean it up, seven second delay or I, never get any radio play
like pass on the right in shift stick
pass your mic for the lipstick
flash your smile for it
this business will kill us hope you've got other interests

Notice how it's fast, full of mood at the beginning, and then sort of peters out at the end as her voice slows and hushes?

This is art. Keep the local hipster vampires away from Doomtree.

Album: Doomtree - Doomtree (censored, but they don't swear much anyways)