Enigma’s 17 tracks certainly live up to the title, with Dox serving up a number of musical moods alongside a series of varying flows. Some are cool and laid back, while others are delivered in rapid-fire double time. The boom bap spirit remains at its core. Quick shot scorcher “Juggernauts” has Dox proclaiming, “Bringing light to darker times / We as bright as it gets.” “Dynamite,” featuring vocalist Ricky on the hook, carries an uplifting, summertime feel. Just as the title promises, “Soultro” is a slow-burning, soulful instrumental with a spoken word send-off, imploring listeners to build toward their greater purpose.
He points to artists like the late Gift of Gab, Tech N9ne, and the Hieroglyphics crew as inspirations for his dense lyricism and studied flow, but adds that he doesn’t emulate them. Rising out of the far-reaching, ever-creative proving ground of 90s hip-hop, he maintains a sharp focus on incessantly being himself, adding that “I’ve always tried to deviate and be an individual. That’s all stemmed from the Bay Area and early hip-hop.”
Speaking on his developmental years as a teen, he shares of carefree days and nights when he and others used whatever tools they had available to piece together formative beats. A gifted four-track recorder pushed him to create sounds in unique ways.
“When I started getting into hip-hop, it was a bunch of friends messing around in a friend’s garage and me,” Dox recalled. “Because I had limited access to instruments at that time, I was making snares with two bottles in hand, just being creative with it. That really got me on the path of creating music myself as an emcee and producer,” he shared.
After high school, Dox moved to Honolulu for college, where he made inroads into the Hawaiian hip-hop scene and saw a more introspective side to lyricism. He’s also gained insight and inspiration during stints in Las Vegas and New York.
His knack for embracing change has certainly fueled him. It’s also likely at the core of why, despite the length of his career, he’s not short on answers for what keeps his creative flow going. His response is multi-faceted and studied, much like his music. He speaks of incremental change, brick by brick. He wants to refine his on-stage performance to better connect with his audience, continue to build on the possibility of performing with his band, the Aquanauts, tour the globe, and appear with larger acts.
“I think it’s the ability to do things I haven’t done,” he said. “There are sounds I haven’t created. I’m not looking to start singing or anything, but for me, I definitely feel there are areas of my music that I have yet to tap into,” Dox shared.
For an artist with this much time in the game, that might just be the true gift: his continued desire to wade into the waters of the unknown.
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