Tone matters in all forms of pop music, but it’s especially important in hip-hop. If you’re going to shape something larger than simple verses and beats, you’ve got to start with the very foundation of your execution style, much as Dici has in his last couple of singles. Dici’s latest release, “u n i,” is one of the more compelling he’s released to date, and the story of its successful presence is one that begins and ends with the tonal attitude its creator brings to the studio with him. He isn’t just half-singing/half-rapping in this performance, but using the girth of his vocal to develop a groove, a harmony, and most important of all, a mood with which his narrative can feel authentic to the listener.
Dici starts off “u n i” with the lines “Don’t really know what to do tonight / Ship going down yea suicide / Wish it was just / You and I,” alluding to a much more gothic sensibility than anything he’s experimented with in the past. Linguistically speaking, the cadence and the stylization of his poetry hasn’t changed much since we heard his smash hit “Five Rings,” but it’s what he’s doing with his words that feels like a major departure from the standard I associated him with before the release of this song. He’s got an aversion to the light here, as though he’s looking to bask in the lonesomeness of a jaded weekday evening in which one is neither excited nor apathetic to what the night may bring.
Watch the video for “u n i” below
I will say that the groove is a lot less punchy in this piece than some of the similarly arranged content Dici has released previously has been, but this doesn’t make the beat feel somehow lacking next to the other material in his discography at all. On the contrary, I think he’s showcasing a level of versatility that hasn’t been as visible in the American underground over the past few years as it was in the early 2010s when crossovers like this young artist started to scratch the surface of what would ultimately become the melodic trap movement. He’s carrying forth the torch of that gen here, but without the same commercial pressures that a lot of his forerunners wound up running into.
Dici is leaning towards a more indie look in this all-new release than I was anticipating he would, but part of me wonders if this isn’t in response to the comparisons to mainstream players he’s been receiving in the last year. He’s definitely been getting a lot of love from the press on both sides of the dial, but if his goal is to remain tethered to an underground movement as opposed to breaking out of the Miami scene he’s come to rule over so epically in 2020 and 2021, this is the right kind of single to start the year with. This is certainly an artist going his own way, and to some extent, that’s what I think “u n i” is really all about.
