Davon - Bottom Floor (Steele Lock Entertainment, 2003)

I have fond memories of Summer '02 being a real exciting time to be driving around Baltimore listening to the radio. That was during the short period that there were 2 rap stations in town, before WXYV flipped formats, and Lil Mo was their drivetime DJ, and they'd play club music for literally hours every day. B Rich and Mario were starting to hit the mainstream, and the first wave of Tim Trees/Rod Lee hits was really popping off locally, especially "Be Ya Friend" by Davon featuring Tim Trees, a weird funny R&B track with "Grindin'" drums, whistling, and a Trees verse that sounds like it was recorded in a tin can where he sounds real excited about a girl with no teeth. That song was everywhere for a while. But Davon didn't release an album until Summer '03, a full year after the song came and went, and "Be Ya Friend" is all the way at the end of the album. I wish the album had the remix too, which had a lot of Rod Lee vocals and chopped up the whistling bits in a cool way. The rest of the album is alright, pretty competent quiet storm stuff, maybe a little more slicker and professional sounding that Paula Campbell's album, although Davon seems to sing the same melody in every other song. My other favorite song on the album is "Need To Know" over the beat from "I Got A Story To Tell" (I don't know who the guest rapper on the song is, the liner notes don't say).

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3, Rod Lee, Tim Trees