Diary of a Misfit: Open Letter(LP) is a project released by Mwape M Mwansa also known as Dragy. Immediately the title of the project gives you something to expect with 1 serious question afoot, how deep down the rabbit hole will we get to go inside the rappers mind.
The project has 10 songs, each of which feels like opening ourselves up into different worlds, worlds we can only watch. With an interesting group of features that don’t take away from the idea of this being a diary or even an open letter.
Features such as Mhudi on I Don’t Know. Menace & Destro on Get Away. Nova & Menace on Breaking Free. Qing and Kai on Forged by Fire. MayunNinetyX on A Little More. Room14 on Pick Up. M.Y.I on Easier.
Menace has a hand in production of some of the joints making it a rather thought out project.
Its usually cringeworthy when someone puts out a title with diary, memoir or journal not because I expect them to follow a lot of the conventional rules that come with picking a particular genre but because of the level of authentic vulnerability with which one tells their story.
Destros feature also puts to bed any doubting fans who thought a neighbourhood poet could never rap bars round a beat.
This project touches on a myriad of things, feeling inadequate, the universal search for God, the struggle with drugs and its numbing effect. Questions of oblivion that deal with the purpose of everything. Throughout the project Mwape really digs deep to be as vulnerable as possible while providing us relatable stories from his life. Listening to this I’m reminded of how more alike than different we are.
With everything going on in the world its really good to be reminded of the things that bind us as people. Similar struggles and Joy’s all wrapped up in different stories.
An amazing undertaking from Mwape and I can honestly say I’m excited to find out what more he has in store for us to experience musically.
P.S There were some moments where I’m not sure if it was done intentionally or purely coincidentally. However, there were a handful of off sounding deliveries. At first it threw me off but after further listening its almost like his mind had too many thoughts being processed as he wrote in his diary. A battle between mind and hands on what to share with the diary.
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Happy listening and tell me your thoughts
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