You know Donwill as one half of Tanya Morgan, as well as his work in comedy, deejaying, production, and more. For all of his work within Tanya Morgan and other group projects, it’s been nine years since his last solo album, Don Cusack in High Fidelity. That all changes now as he releases *One Word No Space.

In listening to One Word No Space, I can’t help but think back to the time that I read Cash by Johnny Cash. In the book, Johnny Cash explains why June Carter Cash never released a solo album by explaining how every time she started in on a project, she’d begin writing and arranging and then would inevitably think about how much better things would sound if she brought her sisters in to sing harmony with her, and then it would end up being another Carter Family album. I bring this up because while technically this is a Donwill solo album, in reality this feels much more like a Tanya Morgan Family album, with Donwill just featured as the lead emcee. That’s certainly not meant as any disrespect – if anything, this album serves to highlight just how well Donwill gets along with all of his peers, and that he didn’t have such an ego that he felt the need to distance himself from them so that he could get a chance to shine. Instead, he simply turned to the other half of Tanya Morgan, Von Pea, to produce the album (and rap on three of the tracks), brought in longtime collaborators The Other Guys to master the album, featured several members of Lessondary, and then also brought in some friends like Quelle Chris, MC Paul Barnam, and Theory Hazit to further round out the family feel of the album. Everything you love about Tanya Morgan and Donwill are present on the album, with plenty of East Coast boom bap to get things poppin’, just a little bit of weird experimental beats, and then plenty of rhymes mixing together humor, social commentary, shit talking, and Donwill’s Cincinnati roots. The whole thing is incredibly easy to listen to, with so many fun moments and good lines, you’ll be picking out a new favorite moment each time you listen to the album.

This might not be a solo album in the traditional sense of things, but when an album is this much fun to listen to with so many highly skilled artists all getting a chance to shine, who cares? One Word No Space is a great summer album that will sound great bumping at your next party.