Rapper DDm, by now one of the most established MCs in the city’s DIY scene, has a knack for pulling from his past and using those memories to reflect on the present. When I spoke with him and producer Paul Hutson, performing as the group Bond St. District, in 2016, DDm told me he reached back to the Baltimore of his youth–Captain Chesapeake, Oprah and Richard Sher on WJZ, the Inner Harbor being something shiny and new–to deliberate on the present day, post-uprising.
“Those memories keep me together and they keep me rooting for the city,” he said.
For his new solo album, “Soundtrack to a Shopping Mall,” DDm again looks to the 1980s, and all of its excesses, only to realize kids who grew up in that era were all sold a dream that now feels out of reach.
“My generation got to see the world when it was really good, and we’re starting to see it when it goes down,” he recently told Baltimore magazine. “For that, it’s even more heartbreaking for us.”
The release show for the album, this Saturday at Baltimore Soundstage, will appropriately ramp up the indulgence, asking attendees to dress in their best mall attire from the era and hosting a contest to design the best shopping bag. It should be a killer party all around, with rapper Abdu Ali hosting, Lemz providing beats and TT the Artist, Kotic Couture, Jay Royale and RoVo Monty making guest appearances.
Sadly, it will also be something of a farewell party, as DDm tells Baltimore he is plotting a move to New York. Knowing that DDm curates as well as he raps, it will surely be a night to remember.
8 p.m., Baltimore Soundstage, 124 Market Place, (410) 244-0057, baltimoresoundstage.com, $20.
