D-Truce offers an emotional trip in revelatory “Eden” EP

Album: EdenArtiste: D-TruceGuests: Dawn, Tyler, 3rtyProducers: Chukwuebuka 'D-Truce' Anyasie, 3rty, Sess, Echo, DJ Babus, Shabba, Gray JonesDuration: 77 MinutesRecord Label: X3M Music (2016)

“I was barely thirteen and my mom and Dad had just split…” reveals D-Truce on ‘1 Day’. In his debut EP – “Eden” – the rapper, singer, songwriter, and part time tech-head makes it easy for us to walk through his mind and capture the various ways in which it changes, and the events that led up to that change. Aside from making music to satiate the hunger for expression he carries, this is an invitation to see the world from his eyes, walk in his shoes, and engage his music from a personal perspective.

These stories show a pursuit for survival and simplistic living. He sits deep in his mind, reminisces through the days past, and generates lessons. One of those is his discovery of pride as a constant in the psych of a man. “Pride is a killer make you feel like you’ve arrived. People make it to the top, but not a lot survive”, he advises on ‘Adams Apple’, backed by Tyler, reggae guitars, coarse strings and life feel less like a competition and more minimalist and altruistic.

Like many local luminaries in rap, the young Lagos resident has a knack for vivid storytelling. ‘Random Afternoon’ tells of a boy “just catching cruise, driving through 3 Avenue, back seat with a cup…” who had “one of those days when I had nothing to do”, and a girl “who was looking all nice and so beautiful”. It’s witty and picturesque, D-Truce’s words doing detailed brushwork as they echo over roughly muscular beat.

‘Sunshine’ has the singer on bustling low streets and lounging by the darkness, trying to woo a girl who he hopes to bring him the light. ‘Never around’, meanwhile, finds D-Truce delving into more heartfelt territory on holding on to a lover who is played by Dawn. “Girl I know that I’m not always around…” he relays over gently picked guitar and sad bursts of mixed percussion. ‘Missing rib’, with its serene instrumentation and poignant honesty is all of us ‘trying to stay alive’, while hoping that ‘everything go better’.

It’s not just the deepest and sincerest feelings that D-Truce touches. ‘Lagos Funk’ has tinges of House music in its blustering hedonism, complete with wild drumming and basic lyrics. The production, too, is largely crisp and glimmering, adding a high-tempo gild to a debut that breathes life using imagery and personal stories.

Rating – 3.5

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