Dagha exhaustively catalogues coping with the end of a marriage on “The Divorce,” released 15 years ago

It’s accepted that Marvin Gaye’s “Here, My Dear” is the best album about divorce ever recorded. Released 45 years ago, the sprawling double album is a raw piece of work infused with pain, resentment, and passion. It was considered a creative miss at the time, but its stature has grown in the last four and a half decades.

Meanwhile, hip-hop artists rarely broach the subject of divorce. Many rappers won’t even acknowledge they’re married in their music, much less that their wedded bliss union has come to an end. There have been rap albums centered on painful break-ups before, but more often than not rappers work to remain stoic and/or aloof when it comes to speaking about love lost on their albums. However, fifteen years ago Dwayne “Dagha” Simmons addressed the dissolution of his marriage and the collapse of his life head-on with his second album, aptly titled The Divorce.

The Boston-based artist was a mainstay of the city’s underground scene when he dropped The Divorce. As a member of the duo Cloke and Dagha, he began recording music in the early ’90s. He later linked up with Insight, another of the pioneers of Boston’s hip-hop scene, in the early ’00s, appearing on the rapper/producer albums and as a member of the Electric Company. He eventually released his first album, Object in Motion, in 2005 to some critical acclaim.

The Divorce features his best and obviously most personal work. Whereas on other “break-up albums,” artists directly address their often-scorned partner, Dagha uses The Divorce to catalogue the messy process of ending his marriage and the subsequent fallout. The album is notable for its brevity: Gaye took two albums and over 70 minutes to unpack his feelings towards Anna Gordy Gaye, while The Divorce moves along at a brisk 43 minutes. Dagha details the entire endeavor from beginning to end, from the initial collapse to his efforts to piece himself back together.

The Divorce begins with “The Devil’s Work,” an extended prologue where Dagha details meeting his wife-to-be and describes the bumps that the marriage goes through both during its earliest stages, and after the birth of their daughter. The increasingly acrimonious situation continues to sour, before culminating in a seemingly innocuous event that becomes the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. Though Dagha overall portrays himself in a sympathetic light, he is honest about his screw-ups along the way. Dagha shares his “warts” throughout The Divorce, explaining his complicated thought process that leads to his ill-advised decisions.

Dagha details his misguided and criminal behavior on “Changed Locks,” as he throws a brick through a window in his home after his wife locks him out, and his subsequent arrest. On “My Luck,” he contemplates the mess his life has become as he spends the night in a jail cell. Later, on “Playhouse,” he describes the unsuccessful attempt by him and his soon to be ex-wife to sell their home for extra money, only to have the bank foreclose on them.

The album’s production is mostly handled by DJ Real, another Boston-based luminary, with help from Insight and others. The soundscape is always soulful and often melancholy, in keeping with the album’s subject matter. The instrumental interludes serve as the album’s more introspective moments, expressing the feelings of loss and regret through sorrowful vocal samples.

“A Man’s Question” features Dagha at his most bitter. The only track that directly addresses his ex, he struggles to find a way to co-exist with her as they remain committed to co-parenting throughout harsh words, child support payments, and a toxic environment. He does learn to move past his lingering anger, and works to reset his life, quitting his job on “Try,” and then recommitting himself to his music career on “What I’mma Do?” (one of two tracks with former rhyme partner Cloke) and “Scat.”

A couple of years later, Dagha released The Divorce: Bonus Scenes (2010), an EP’s worth of remixes and a pair of unreleased tracks. The best of these is “You (Single Father),” produced by Paten Locke, where he reflects on his newfound life as a single parent and dispenses advice to others in this situation. Though the message and the smooth track are very strong, you can see how fitting this song into the album’s flow might have been difficult.

Dagha’s unflinchingly honest performance throughout The Divorce is integral to its success. By portraying the often ugly and contentious process of ending a partnership, he’s able to work through his feelings and emerges as a better person. The unflinching honesty in his performance is potent, and its power has not diminished in the 15 years since its release.