DC The Don

Hailing from Milwaukee but cutting his teeth in Los Angeles, DC The Don is a relentless experimenter, infusing his rap bona fides with elements of pop, emo and electro. The former basketball standout who was a high school teammate of NBA star LaMelo Ball began crafting his Swiss Army knife sound with 2020’s Come As You Are. That album finds him embracing the eccentric stylings of rap vanguards like Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti, infusing his tracks with unreplicable flows and stylish aesthetic flourishes. On 2023’s FUNERAL, he embraces the live band sound of alternative rock music, singing over pulsing drums and accenting his songs with melodic inclinations that recall genre stalwarts like Kid Cudi. His heartsick ballads make up the bulk of his work, like on “Story of MY Life”, where he laments that his pockets are full but he’s still not OK. Money doesn’t solve everything, after all—a thesis he continues to examine on 2024’s REBIRTH. Despite the hopeful title, many of the songs deal with deceit and betrayal. Even as he continues to ascend in the alternative hierarchy, DC the Don finds plenty of personal struggles to fuel his inimitable brand of pain rap.