Dwele talks about getting his start, who he is as a person, meeting Slum Village and Kanye West, best advice he ever received, the industry not being about the music anymore & much more.

From Dwele’s Greater Than One LP, hitting August 28th.

For the latest episode of “Outside the Booth”, DJBoothTV’s own Jacques Morels catches up with Dwele to talk about his upcoming “Greater Than One” album, the return of real love music, keeping it Detroit and more.

New single from Dwele, which is out on ITunes now.

Chances are you have heard the work of rapper-producer Nottz through his solo output or collaborations with the likes of Asher Roth and Rah Digga. Tomorrow, the Norfolk, Va. native will release his latest solo effort, the In My Mind EP. It’s an eight-track affair featuring Pete Rock, Black Milk, The Alchemist, and, in the case of standout cut “You Need This Music,” Pusha T and Dwele.

Pusha complements the head-nodding, soulful production with a subdued, albeit on-point, verse while Nottz opens the track with middle-finger rhymes aimed directly at the music industry. Dwele brings an extra dose of soul on the hook, which perfectly rounds out the track. Pre-order the EP on iTunes.

Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dwele returns with a New Single “What Profit”. Get “What Profit” on iTunes.

New video from Belgian HipHop duo Aral & Sauzé featuring The Lords of the Underground. Aral & Sauzé are working on an upcoming album that includes guest appearances by Royce da 5’9″, Talib Kweli, AZ, Dwele and beats by Buckwild, Marco Polo & Jake One.

Dwele offers up a free MP3 from his latest disc, World Wants Women, in stores now. Check the video above and tour dates below.

Dwele – “What’s Not To Love” (MP3)

Tour Dates
July 1 – Center Stage/ Atlanta, GA
July 2 – Limelight / Nashville, TN
July 3 – Cannon Center / Memphis, TN
July 7 – Triple Door / Seattle, WA
July 9 – Yoshi’s / West Oakland, CA
July 10 – Yoshi’s / West Oakland, CA
July 11 – Yoshi’s / West Oakland, CA
July 15 – Key Club / West Hollywood, FL
July 16 – Anthology / San Diego, CA
July 17 – Anthology / San Diego, CA
July 21 – Chene Park, Detroit, MI
July 23 – The Shrine / Chicago, IL
July 25 – Fine Line Music Café / Minn,MN
August 16 – Birchmere/ Alexandria, VA
August 17 – Birchmere/ Alexandria, VA
August 18 – B.B. Kings, NY, NY
August 19 – Showcase Live / Foxboro, MA
August 21 – Gerald R. Ford Ampth/ Vail, CO
September 3 – Johannesburg, South Africa
September 5 – AT&T PAC / Dallas, TX

First single from Dwele’s June 29th release, W.W.W. (W.ants. W.orld. W.omen).

New neo-soul track from Dwele as he readies his new album W.W.W. (W.ants. W.orld. W.omen). This track hit the net last week, but we just missed getting it up, so we decided to get it up today. Dwele’s new album is due out June 29th of this year.

Dwele – “What’s Not To Love” (MP3)

Coming from Tres Records is Big Tone’s latest video, taken from the Detroit artist’s forthcoming second LP, The Art Of Ink. Dwele’s on horns, with help from Zo!, who adds instrumentation. People slept on Tone the first time around, but heads should take a second look, especially when quality labels like Tres – and ABB before them – have invested in him.

Multi-talented one-man-band, Dwele, pays homage to Michael Jackson in this YouTube clip. And that’s how you let the beat build, bitch. – DJ Pizzo

And it would be Mr. West’s chart-topping single from last year, “Flashing Lights”, that would help Dwele break from the mold of indie artist to household name. The question is, with a Grammy nomination now under his belt and blessing of Kanye, many are hearing Dwele for the first time – will Sketches Of A Man set the stage for a booming solo career?

Dwele may not be as polished as say, John Legend, but he does have some standout moments on his latest LP. Unapologetic neo-soul, Dwele’s style comes from the place where he dwells, embracing the sound of Detroit pioneered by Dilla – that being, breezy vocals over bass heavy vibes and snapping snares. Largely self-produced, the album maintains a core sound, with little care or attempt at making a hit record, but instead just focusing on carrying on tradition.

This couldn’t be more evident than on a section of the LP that pays homage to J. Dilla, in three parts. The first of these is “Open Your Eyes”, a cover of the Bobby Caldwell classic, sampled by Dilla for Common’s “The Light”. This leads directly into “Workin’ On It”, another cover, but this time of more unconventional source material. Here, Dwele brilliantly takes pieces from Dilla’s “Donuts” LP, and pieces them together into one song, cleverly building the lyrics around each “donut”. Finally, Slum Village joins in for “Brandi” – not a Dilla tribute by any means, but a nightcap to the set. This classy homage doesn’t beat you over the head with “rest in peace” shout-outs or dedications, but instead subtly pays tribute to the fallen producer.

Unfortunately, this section of the LP represents some of the album’s strongest moments – despite it being built around covers or collaborators. Dwele’s more original material suffers from monotony, such as the redundant “I’m Cheatin’”, a thinly veiled ode to role-playing in the bedroom. Or, the strangely penned love song, “A Few Reasons”, where he promises “If we had computer love, I would let you have my MySpace / If your love was a dance / you could YouTube me.” Huh?

Despite his obvious talented vocal chops, Dwele’s self-produced style tends to drag on a bit. Those looking for another “Flashing Lights” might be disappointed, as Dwele sticks to doing what he knows best. A shame, considering Kanye’s production offered us a glimpse of what Dwele might sound like over high-priced beats – none of which you’ll find here. – D.T. Swinga

Subject jumps off with the somewhat groovy “The Truth “, where Dwele hands you a helping of groove therapy; nothing to jump out your window to, but something smooth to keep you from choking your boss at work. After that we experience a few joints where the listener can barely pick out a standout joint, but just let the soulful production float around the room without disrupting your thoughts. Nothing thats going to give your brain an aneurysm just some average soul for dummies. The melodic title track “Subject” jumps in with its mellow smooth production and Dwele blessing us with a pretty decent joint. The funk inspired “Sho Ya Right” will get you shakin your rump in the mirror thinking of some of that ol school sweaty ass funk. The real shining moment of this album is the buttery, laid back “Kick Out Of You”. This is one of Dwele’s bright spots where the soulster’s lungs breath life into the jazzy production. Other notables include “Hold On” and “Lady at Mahogany”.

But those spots are far and few in between when everything else is blahzah-blah. Dwele at times lands in between Donell Jones and a poor man’s (WIC check poor man’s) D’Angelo. Subject falls into the emotionless traits of other soul albums not giving it that extra oomph that could push it over the edge. It just easily balances on that average fence never
really pushing the envelope of todays music.