Lil Dream switches between singing and rapping, making slight changes to his voice and creating subtle differences within his songs.
Like any skilled rapper, Lil Dream seems keenly aware of his strengths and weaknesses as a vocalist, treating his own voice as a complementary shade in the palette rather than the centerpiece.
When he’s rapping, the artist’s voice is full-bodied and deep-throated, and when he decides to sing, as he often does, he comes across much softer, with a monotone edge that amplifies with influence. With stand-out tracks such as “Voss” and “Keyshuh”, the vocals bleed into the instrumentals and eventually blends into the surroundings.
Lil Dream’s flow is consistent but fluid, sometimes aggressive but always expressive. What keeps his sound fresh is the stylistic allegiance to the auto-tune sound. The artist switches modes frequently, sometimes in the space of a single song and opens with abstract croons until tight and punchy drums kick into high gear.
Hailing from the Washington DC area, Lil Dream transforms his full-length project Swipe Rixh 2 into a diverse collection of flows. The project’s most interesting attributes are at the edges, the kind of dynamic tracks that are clearly the result of creatively making things fun such on “1500 Degreez”. He seems focused and his chops as a rapper is formidable enough that it he comes across as favorable artist.