Dave East: Harlem's New Prince

Fresh off of his third release in less than six months, Dave East is continuing to show the world why he is one of the dopest artists around. Having just concluded his Paranoia 2 tour, the Harlem native has enjoyed a successful last few months. Having recently signed deals with Luc Belaire and New Era, life is good for the 28 year old.

What makes Dave East great is his storytelling ability which is why I think he is blowing up so quickly. In an era where good storytellers are rare, Dave East has all of the attributes to make it big.

Even back in 2012, it was noticeable that Dave East was a diamond in the rough, as well as a future superstar. Back then, the former college basketball player was a very raw talent. Projects such as No Regrets and GEMINI allowed the young rapper to show the world what he could do.

As the years passed and he dropped more projects, Dave East’s flow really started to sound a lot smoother and professional. Black Rose was the project that really started to turn heads. Tracks such as Red Bottoms and Broke really allowed East to show the world that he had bars. By the time he dropped Paranoia, East had found his flow. Paranoia was a major turning point for East in my opinion.

East used tracks such as The Hated and Found a Way to display his storytelling abilities. That trend continued onto Paranoia 2 with tracks such as Powder and Corey.

East uses his storytelling abilities to show his listeners what life in East Harlem was like. Similar to Kendrick Lamar and Logic in terms of storytelling, I think East is up there with the best.

Something else that Dave East can do which many others can not, is release a lot of extremely good music in a short amount of time. Just before he dropped Paranoia 2 he dropped 2 fire songs on his already stacked Soundcloud account, On God and You the Same (Gucci Gang Remix).

Since the Paranoia 2 tour ended, East has picked up right where he left off. Having dropped Peter Pan on Thursday, it seems as though the 28 year old has plenty of heat in store. Especially if his Instagram is anything to go by.

I think that as long as Dave East keeps on rolling with his current flow and continues to ride this wave, he will continue to grow. It looks like he has plenty of music on the way which is also a good sign. The crazy thing is that East has not even dropped his debut album yet, all of his projects are considered mixtapes. Will we see an album this year? Who knows, but either way it looks like an exciting 2018 is in store for Dave East.