
DigDat entered the game releasing songs such as ‘Air Forces’ that became the first-ever UK drill song to land on the UK top 20 charts. This led to many believing he’d push on to cement his place as one of the best UK drill rappers. Instead, it seems like the bright, raw talent has instead remained stagnant and his mixtape ‘Pain Built’ displays that.
Overall, the mixtape feels rushed with not much structure in place. For example, on ‘Dottys Cost Jeans’ the song ends abruptly as if it was shortened due to a lack of lyrics or just being incomplete. There are still a few hidden gems in this mixtape that show that there is still major hope for DigDat.
I believe once he sorts out his unfortunate label situation. He will then fulfil his potential of being one of the best Drill artists on the UK scene.
7/10
DigDat is a name that garners attention when speaking on the UK Drill scene. So many were excited when they heard he was dropping a new project.
‘Pain Built’ starts with a nice intro that makes you intrigued to hear the rest of the project. However, things don’t pick up much after that. That’s not to say that there aren’t some good songs on the mixtape like ‘VV’ and ‘Assassin Creed’ where DigDat uses witty wordplay to deliver some bars with great references.
Overall, there are too many repetitive flows and a basis Drill approaches on too many of the songs. DigDat gives the listeners a few flashes of what he’s capable of delivering, but it isn’t enough. The production is okay, and for the most part, the songs are alright, however as a body of work, ‘Pain Built’ is very forgettable.
5.5/10
To kick off 2022, DigDat dropped the drill-heavy mixtape “Pain Built”. Starting from the intro, I enjoyed the production on the track as it sets the dark and gritty mood of the tape. As well as that, the catchy hook “If I dig out your chest, dip dip, round and ruin the drip” reinforced the menacing mood.
Throughout the tape, I enjoyed the combination of lyrics and flows across different tempos. However, I did feel like it became repetitive as each song sounded similar. Adding different features on the tape could’ve helped, but it’s a brave move to choose ten solo songs for a project.
Overall, I feel like this was a decent start to the year for DigDat, but I feel like he should experiment more with his sound and beat selection in the future.
6/10
Overall, compared to his previous project ‘Ei8ht Mile’. DigDat’s mixtape was disappointing. For starters, his sound was based on Drill. However, he failed to implement that same electrifying vibrancy that ‘Ei8ht Mile’ had as this project is quite monotonous and repetitive.
DigDat’s flow doesn’t help this lacklustre ambience as it doesn’t contain the vigorous rhythm he had in previous tunes such as ‘Airforce’ & ‘8ight Mile’. His lyricism was basic, and there was nothing special that stood out. The only song that had the potential to be great was “Blue SVR”. Overall, I believe DigDat is capable of doing better.
5.5/10
‘Pain Built’ PTA Overall Rating – 6/10