The man behind the mask is Dominique Purdy, alternatively known as, the Koreatown Oddity. He's an LA-based comedian and rapper, and one-man wolf back... maybe not the last one anymore. He's finally pulled off the wolf mask that used to cover his face, to reveal the man who has been behind so much ruckus... and his face is covered in blood. He's alright though. It's just a nosebleed. A persistent condition he developed after hitting his head during a car accident when he was just a little kid. But it is also, so much more...
Dominique's latest LP Little Dominiques Nosebleed uses the metaphor of the crimson drainage running out his nostrils as a prism through which to view the rest of his life. It is a symbol of trauma- of the anger, anguish and ecstasy of growing up a black boy and later living as a black man in LA. It is also a constant reminder that he is alive, that his heart still beats red hot blood, and that as long he still has a beat in his chest, he has another chance to make good. It is also a kind of baptism- a sign that Dominique is touched by some divinity that guides his path, like an internal stigma- a beatific prompt illuminating the reality that he is not just a body, striving to survive, but a spirit in a man with a purpose and a calling.
This last point is made very clear on the track "Chase the Spirit," which follows a skit where Dominque is admonished by an older man for simply being content with the bare necessities (money for rent, food, and sneakers), and oriented towards truth and the pursuit of it. The track is a rubber bassed Aesop Rock-esque statement of purpose, jogging in the light of a guiding star from above, while shedding gold watches, platinum money clips, and Twitter clout like sweat dripping out his pours, leaving all these materials things to evaporate on the asphalt like tainted water from a rusted canteen.
The idea that there is more to life than simply what one can hold in their two hands, and the reality that you can always dig deeper to unearth a greater truth, is illustrated on the disco-soul dip and swivel of "A Bitch Once Told Me," where Dominque flows like a reed in a stream, bending and slicing through the flow of sax solos and an elastic guitar sample, drinking without fear of drowning, and standing without fear of being uprooted. The "Bitch" in this case, is not a woman, but someone who either lacks the interest in, or has given up on, the imperative to seek truth in one's life and live it through their actions.
The reflective quality of the album is mirrored by the production, which generally leans into the Adrian Brown style of remixed retro soul and exploitation cinema aesthetics, of course with a hint of hunger, in-line with Dominque's former wolf-like persona, and an obstinate sense of rhythm, that breaks up the usual flow of these classic sounds and imbues them with a funny kind of ferocity.
What really impresses me about everything about this album is the extent that Domiqnue is able to take aspects of his life and lived experience and derive from them universal paradigms- wisdom which he is then able to impart to demonstrate a unity between all people, regardless of who they are and where they come from. Little Dominiques Nosebleed's is more than just a chronic condition; it is itself a kind of cure, as well as a symptom of a whole way of life.
