Two years after Winter in Paris, the rapper from La Courneuve, originally from Cameroon, Dinos, ex-Punchlinovic, is back with Kintsugia dense album full of guests.
3 mins
“ My products are essentially tailor-made », explained Dinos to Mehdi Maizi about this new album, 16 pieces for almost an hour of music, with a guest list which surprises at first sight: We meet Zed the Sevranais ex-13 Block (on the first track, “Stacks”) as well as the veteran Lino from Ärsenik (on “The Day After”) but also the new star afro rap Tiakola (on “Gaucho”) and the rookie who rides Jolagreen23 (accompanied by La Mano 1.9 on “D Block Afrique”). But the featuring the most improbable obviously remains the singer Hélène Segara came to feminize the chorus of “Cent fois” on piano chords signed Sofiane Pamart.
Without being a concept album, Kintsugi is a record that presents itself as a whole, in opposition to many other projects which attempt to align singles with a bangers by surrounding them with what the Americans call “album fillers”.
Dinos has ambition. And often, his titles go deep into references, like the one at the great modern art fair in “Noir fluo”: “You discover Fashion Week, I’m at Art Basel”. Dinos does not take his listeners for ignoramuses.
American influences flow, both in content and form, with a chorus by Ludacris (“Move bitch, get out of the way!” ») recycled on “D Bloc Afrique” and some references to Chief Keef, or Nipsey Hussle for an RIP alongside that of Frenchman Luv Resval. Two years after “Chrome Hearts” (on the album Winter in Paris), Dinos finds Hamza on “Miss Lily’s”, a classic lovers song without much textual relief saved by a swaying and jerky rhythm.
More consistent, “Insecure” explores the theme of self-criticism and releases a few rhymes that contrast pleasantly with the rapological zeitgeist which sometimes leans too obviously towards ease. From the one who mentioned family planning and the theme of abortion on “93 measures” (Album Stamina), we are not surprised. And it’s well done.
It is in “The Day After” that we find the sharpest rhymes, like this one unleashed by Lino: “ Since it’s no longer the street that validates, it’s us against everything else/ Like a dialogue of the deaf between a penis and Caroline Fourest ». Dinos has something to answer for, and he holds his place: “ I rap about the tears that I didn’t cry, I have to do the best/ Anger is the refuge of unhappy people “.
Despite some songs that are a little weaker than the headlines mentioned above, Kintsugi is a solid record, and if we had to find a track to synthesize what makes these 16 tracks (plus two unreleased tracks only available in physical version, “Bodie Broadus” and “Pinky Fingers”) a collection of coherent songs, it is perhaps in the explanation of this title coming from the Rising Sun: the art of kintsugi is ” a Japanese method of repair porcelain or ceramics broken using lacquer sprinkled with gold powder ». It’s up to each listener to imagine what Dinos repaired…
Dinos Kintsugi (Spktaqlr/Believe) 2024
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