What Profit: New Music From Detroit’s Dwele (Video)

Oh, you already know: I stan hard for Dwele, the Detroit soul crooner who happens to be the architect of some of my favorite songs ever—”My People,” “Some Kinda,” “Wake the Baby,” “Detroit Sunrise,” “Open Your Eyes,” “Break You Off” (with The Roots)… the list goes on. And thanks to the Atlanta Black Star, I’m up on Dwele’s latest, “What Profit,” the new single and video off his upcoming album, due later this summer.

No, he’s not telling a woman he wants to see her strip.*cough* Chris Brown *cough*

No he’s not talking about getting drunk and blowing all his money on vacations for his thug friends. *cough* Drake *cough*

No, he’s not telling women he can show them how to work their lady parts and, in the process, smearing pooh all over a 20-year record of beautiful ballads. I’m looking dead at you, Brian McKnight.

In “What Profit,” Dwele, the Grammy-nominated songwriter, singer and producer, is straight schooling men and women on the finer points of money and the ills it causes in relationships. For women, he warns that expensive cars and fancy clothes won’t keep us warm at night; for men, he gives the finer points of the need to appreciate the ride-or-die woman who was there in their corner, loving, supporting and praying for them, even when they were broke and didn’t have two nickels to rub together. The chorus is… everything.

What profit a man/to gain the whole wide world/then lose his girl?
If I was your man/I’d do all that I can to keep you girl

Hell. Yes. The groove is slick. Dwele’s voice is, as always, smooth and silky and perfection. And, if “What Profit” is any indication, this next album, his fifth, is going to be every bit as delicious as all the others. I got my iTunes Dwele “alert” locked and loaded. Make sure you support this brother’s artistry and plain, ol’ good music by buying his album and spreading the word that he’s out with something special. In the meantime, enjoy the video for “What Profit” and buy the single on iTunes.