She alternates between rapping, warbling and crooning with ease and I can’t really point to any shitty beats on the project. Even when some songs give off an incomplete air, you still hear the talent on display. Next, and probably most important, is her ear for beats and melodies. That’s not to claim that she discards the bars after ‘Birdcall’, but it’s clear that she made an effort to show and prove ASAP. I don’t know about other folks, but if you show me that you have the bars early on, I’ll probably put up with a lotta other bullshit. Placing a dope lyrical effort at the beginning of your project is an olive branch to those of us that still stan for rappers that, you know, can actually rap. Like, she can really spit and it’s immediately obvious on the first track, ‘Birdcall’. The first standout factor is that she can actually rap. The ‘it-factor’ is often a nebulous catch-all for charisma or star-power, which I happen to think Dej has in spades, but Sell Sole makes it fairly easy for this observer to quantify what’s impressive about her. In the simplest terms, the girl has ‘it’. And I’ve gotta say that unless Columbia Records messes this up fantastically, I think there’s enough raw potential in Dej Loaf to ensure that she’s a worthy investment moving forward. Cynical? Certainly, but I don’t make the rules. If a rapper expects to make anything resembling a dent in the mainstream, he or she is gonna need to stay ‘hot’ or ‘relevant’ or ‘on fleek’ or whatever the fuck the kids are saying lately. For me, this exercise often boils down to evaluating potential singles and their hook making abilities. Rap writers are just tryna predict said rapper’s odds of success moving forward beyond their breakout song. I have to admit that writing about the latest rapper du jour generally feels like an odds making exercise. Deen would pull a robbery with Lady of Rage over Rah Digga