Salt Lake City Hip Hop, Review of Dusk Raps' Throw Away The Key

“What you see is what you get, so now you know,” Dusk Raps

Looking for a hip-hop fix? Throw Away The Key, and take a little journey with Dusk Raps of Salt Lake City, Utah in his debut solo album.

Dusk Raps is the MC from the hip-hop group Mindstate, and I’ve been a big fan of those guys since catching them in Salt Lake a few years ago. I had the pleasure of talking with Dusk (aka Ryan Worwood) after the first Mindstate show I saw, and started up what has been a solid friendship over the years. In fact, Dusk rhymes like he is everyone’s good friend, which I imagine he is.

That’s a good place to start with Dusk Raps, his style. He is open, honest, and reflective; he doesn’t hide anything or try to be anything he isn’t. He clearly loves hip-hop, and each song reveals a different side. He oozes Salt Lake City through the album, and is a major player in the hip-hop community there. He raps on the song Laser Beams: “Get down for my town, so proud you can’t hate it”.

I know Dusk Raps loves hip-hop so dearly because I helped bring him to the cool mountain town of Gunnison, Colorado, a few years back for a couple shows at the Gunnison Brewery. He came down with his brother, Ben (DJ Honna), the other half of Mindstate, and they rocked the small brewery till close, feeding a hungry crowd in a town that hip-hop acts only rarely visit.

Before one of their shows I was talking with those two, and was surprised by their lack of ego, and general approachability. One conversation was about hip-hop, and how many artists first hip-hop album is their best work. Dusk commented that some artists say everything they have to say on their first album, and have little to draw from in future offerings.

This is not the case with Dusk Raps. Throw Away The Key has many dope tracks. My personal favorites are: Blink, Laser Beams, The First to Know, Something to Say and Smoke Rings. Something to Say was the one I played over and over after first downloading the album, one where Dusk showcases a singing and rapping style, previously not seen in other tracks he’s on.

What is most clear in this album is that he is an artist in the truest sense of the word. (He is also a painter and graffiti artist, and the cover of the album is his own work, in his own, unique style.) 

His wordplay, combined with energetic beats, offers reflections on life, from a thoughtful, hip-hop philosopher. (He thinks very deeply.) Pick up Throw Away The Key, if you are in a hip-hop state of mind, and looking to experience a unique and thoughtful style from an emerging artist from the great, Salt Lake.

Throw Away The Key is available on Bandcamp.com. All tracks can be previewed in their entirety, and the price of the album is on a sliding scale!