Independent rap artist Dutch 3Times returns with “Distant Lover 4: Love, Lust & Heartbreak,” a release that shows how much control he has over mood, motion, and musical instinct.
Dutch 3Times is an independent artist shaped by contrast. Born in the Carolinas and raised in Detroit, his music carries both places in its bones. The Carolinas gave him space, the kind of quiet that lets a writer hear himself think, sharpen his pen, and build a voice without too much outside noise. Detroit gave him grit, pulse, rhythm, and that streetwise musical urgency that turns instinct into motion.
Those influences meet in an artist who can sound reflective without losing edge, melodic without going soft, and lyrical without feeling stiff. There is a looseness to his approach, but it never feels careless. He knows how to sit inside a record and move with it.
After listening to the 9-track album “Distant Lover 4: Love, Lust & Heartbreak,” one thing becomes clear quickly, Dutch 3Times has a real relationship with production. He is not the kind of rapper who treats beats as background. He inhabits them. He bends pockets, stretches cadences, attacks rhythm from strange angles, and understands when to glide, when to press forward, and when to leave space.
That is one of his strongest gifts here. He can subtly change the feel of a song through flow alone. Plenty of rappers can ride a beat. Dutch 3Times sounds like he can steer one.
“Distant Lover 4: Love, Lust & Heartbreak” is the latest installment in the Distant Lover Saga, a six-part series built around love, lust, and heartbreak. On this project, he gives listeners different shades of that emotional world. Some tracks are slick and seductive. Others are darker, heavier, or more chaotic. The throughline is desire, complicated and restless.
The opener, “No Stress,” features the self-proclaimed Queen of R&B Trap, Neisha Neshae, and sets the tone with a futuristic hip-hop feel. Dutch 3Times rides the beat with ease, letting his flow move like water until the vocal and production feel locked into the same current.
This is minimalism handled well. The track is sleek, hypnotic, and built to sound effortlessly cool. The beat is stripped down but sharp, leaning on a bouncy, rubbery bassline that carries most of the groove. Crisp hi-hats and claps give it snap, while the West Coast bounce and sparse melodic touches leave enough air in the room for every bar to land.
Dutch 3Times sounds relaxed and confident, almost casual in the way he delivers his lines. He is focused on wanting to cuff a woman within the first 48 hours, but without stress, drama, or complications. Neisha Neshae answers with a sharper feminine presence, bringing balance without breaking the mood.
The second track, “No Secrets,” brings a bigger rush of energy. Its hook, “Girl you know what I mean, don’t keep no secrets from me,” is catchy enough to stick after one listen. The song has high-octane drill energy, built to feel explosive, chaotic, and larger than life.
The beat hits like a shockwave. Booming 808s push the track forward with force, while sliding drill basslines pull from the UK and New York drill sound. Dutch 3Times cuts through it with his unmistakable voice and cadence, telling a woman that her past does not scare him, no matter how ugly it might be. He positions himself as someone who can hold her secrets, and the track turns that promise into a chant.
“BackStreet Girls PT2” moves into a hazier space. It feels like a nocturnal trap anthem drifting through a psychedelic party, where everything moves slowly but still hits with weight. The production is immersive, with woozy synths that feel slightly off-center and heavy rolling 808s that give the track a slow, head-nodding bounce.
Listening to it feels like watching a room blur at the edges. It has that smoke-cloud atmosphere, thick and distorted, but still controlled. Dutch 3Times leans into a melodic flow that blends into the beat until his voice becomes part of the instrumentation. He sounds like he is floating above the chaos, caught in thoughts about all the freaky things he would do with a certain mistress.
Another standout is “All Day All Night,” which leans into a polished modern rap sound. Dark, atmospheric keys sit over clean, punchy drums, giving the track a steady bounce without making the production too busy. The beat leaves room for the bars, which works in Dutch 3Times’ favor.
The hook is simple, but that simplicity helps it stick. He talks about dreaming and thinking about sex all day and all night, and the bluntness gives the song its appeal. It is direct, catchy, and built like an anthem for late-night rotation.
The final track worth highlighting is “Do For Me,” one of the album’s more cinematic moments. It has a haunting pull that is hard to shake, with a dramatic tension that gives the song a slight sense of danger. The production feels experimental, almost drugged in texture, but it still hits hard and carries real depth.
The hook repeats until it becomes lodged in your head. That repetition works because the atmosphere around it is so strong. “Do For Me” feels like a centerpiece, the kind of track that shows Dutch 3Times is willing to stretch beyond standard rap formulas and chase a stranger mood.
That is the strength of “Distant Lover 4: Love, Lust & Heartbreak.” It offers different entry points. Some listeners will come for the bounce, some for the melodies, some for the late-night lust, and others for the darker emotional textures. Dutch 3Times gives each track its own pulse while keeping the album tied to the same world.
There is something here for everyone. You only have to lock in and find your poison.
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