DCG Brothers Take It Back To The 2000s

Imaga via DCG BSavv/Instagram

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Jack Riedy has said it before and he’ll say it again: Beach Bunny >>>> Rolling Stones.

DCG Brothers have stayed busy. Since freestyling on On The Radar and releasing sophomore album Us, Never Them on Atlantic Records last year, the West Side Chicago rap duo has continued to drop singles every few weeks through new Sony imprint Santa Anna. The DCG Brothers have a natural charisma and morbid humor that help drill tracks like “Real Tweakers” go over like homegrown party music, and as the flagship artists for Chicago label / production company No More Heroes, each new track comes with a reliably polished video.

The best of these singles re-use production from the mid-00s that keep them from official streaming services. With their natural chemistry, DCG Bsavv and DCG Shun bring new life to beats nearly as old as they are.

On “Steppers Freestyle,” the Brothers rap over the swaggering James Brown-derived instrumental “Ga Ga Ga” by Keezo Kane, a West Side roller rink classic first released in 2003. Shun confesses to his mom that he got suspended for pulling up to school with nothing in his bag but a pencil and a drac while Bsavv recalls catching an enemy in traffic before picking his girl up from Roseland off the Dan Ryan. By the end of the song, the brothers are trading rhymes every two bars like an old-school routine. In the video, Bsavv clutches grill tongs with authority in a sunny Chicago backyard. YouTube commenters debate whether it’s generational cookout music or shootout music, when really it’s both.

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“Crank Dat” is a freestyle over the deathless Soulja Boy beat, complete with a video of DCG and friends doing the eponymous dance in oversized white tees and painted sunglasses straight from the cover of souljaboytellem.com. Bsavv brags about eating so good that his big back will never shrink and rolls his eyes at tough talkers who shake like trees when their followers leave. Shun enters with a joyous “awwwww” and threatens to shoot up an opp’s Tesla after he buys him a shot at the bar. The Brothers bring a more modern flow to the Fruity Loops percussion, and Shun sounds so fired up about seeing his old girl with someone new that he briefly outraces the beat like vintage G Herbo.

They continued the trend with last week’s “Hood N*gga Freestyle,” featuring the Chris Flame and Dee Jay Dana beat for a 2007 Gorilla Zoe track. The Atlanta-based Raq Baby takes up the first two-thirds of the song but his Quando Rondo-esque croak is underwhelming, like he can’t be bothered to fill all the space left by the simple quarter note keys. DCG Shun brings more star power in less time, boasting that he’s getting industry money so he can’t get laid off as part of a 16-line stretch using the same slant rhyme. It’s one of the young rapper’s best verses yet, but the song suffers without Bsavv’s raspy voice to follow his brother. The track is proof that DCG Brothers are better as a unit, whether ripping through modern production or the hottest beats of the Dubya era.

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