Dizzy Wright decompresses, cools out and gets a few things off his chest in 'The 702 EP'

The 702 EP by Dizzy Wright

Las Vegas emcee Dizzy Wright is still in a "good place" with his music, and being on his second solid EP of the year so far, he's definitely doing more for his career and fanbase in the long run than he may think now.  On Saturday, July 2, Wright independently (nice) released The 702 EP, a homecoming set of records for him, a time to relax, take a vacation (if only in verse) and air out some grievances, relieving himself of a lot of built-up tension in the process.  The production team handling the music duties includes most of the folks who worked on Wright's February '16 Wisdom And Good Vibes EP adding Louie Haze and LarryMakingAllTheHits with good guest work supplied by Easy Redd, Reezy and Sk8 Maloley.  It's a concise eight-track update from perhaps Nevada's best active rapper at the moment and a good steppingstone between LPs for the young lyricist.

There is never any shortage of energy in Dizzy Wright's vibrant line-spitting here.  Any search he might have considered going on for the most clever original rhymes in the making of this album was evidently sidetracked, since his main focus is on going for a specific feel, mission and message - in this case, take a load off, shout out LV, have some fun, stay motivated, get a little political, identify toxic relationships and maintain defenses.  There are moments in the first four cuts where Dizzy Wright sounds like a typical mainstream rapper more so than in his last two projects, but he doesn't embarrass himself or make himself look a fool.  Again, that is his hangout, me-time section of 702, and he's careful not to commit any form of lyrical suicide or faux pas common among some other rap personas or embellish about his life beyond belief.  He's not an angel, but he's far from being a devil as well.  702 is about Dizzy Wright the real person, not a character called Dizzy Wright.

The whole procession has a general gentle sway, hardly ever banging thunderously production-wise.  It perfectly captures the mellow hazy feel of Wright's western home stopover before the Golden State.  The EP is in fact good despite starting a little disappointing in content, but it ends with a very good, purposeful second half.  It appears that Dizzy Wright is just about past or on the road to getting completely over the problems with and memories he had of his prior, now defunct, label home Funk Volume, not to mention his mixed feelings about the fans' reaction to the disbandment.  He exits 702 focused, directed, on-guard and more experienced and wise than before.  Hopefully he sees now that to make his next LP totally next-level, he'll need to move on from the past and rap on even newer trends, happenings, social movements, current events in his life and so forth, while preserving his moving, motivated delivery and loyal-to-hip-hop rhyme schemes.  702 is Dizzy Wright taking a break from the chaos and madness of life, and there's nothing wrong with that, as long as his peaceful respite to retool goes undisturbed.

3 out of 5 stars