it’s not that deep-UAES EP review

To understand the impact Chicago has had on the alternative hip-hop genre since the blog era you have to do your homework on Kembe X. His contributions are very important to how artists like Lucki and Supabwe & others helped kickstart the soundcloud era and even more importantly expanded the hip-hop genre with their efforts. X was right there with peers such as Monster Mike & Alex Wiley & Jean Deaux pioneering the sound the world loves to hear now when it comes to the psychedelic bar play and production. You cannot talk about the last fifteen years without mentioning the risks and accomplishments Kembe X has brought to the hip-hop genre overall. His last project before now was released in 2019 and even then he was ahead of his time with his vulnerability throughout his music. To keep it simple X has a lot of sons out here and regardless if you want to give him his flowers or not, he is really just getting in his prime with what he is capable of..

His release earlier this year “Sleep Paralysis” was received very well as the album had cinematic production from Hippie Sabotage, incredible harmonies and melodies that compliments what X’s style has been developing into all of this time, & bar play that has the perfect combination of surreal vulnerability and personality that is very relatable to any who decides to take a listen. With an amazing nation wide tour that just concluded this past May Kembe is definitely back in the zone of creating art that he wants to show the world. Not because he has anything to prove, but because he has some of the most strategic and straight forward records out right now. As the cities scene/industry continues to evolve Kembe X has been showing everyone how it’s done while really making some of his best music to date. This new project is a great example of this..

“it’s not that deep” is the perfect transition from Kembe X’s earlier project release this year. The TDE affiliate isn’t afraid to speak on his presence in the hip-hop genre while he also gives more of this amazing song structure and switch of flows that’s so abstract and yet catchy. Kembe is very focused on making sure the record itself doesn’t drag in any areas and it’s amazing to listen to. Records like “i’m kool” comes with this fast and sudden production style with different flow and beat switches all throughout the record. While “Introverted Extrovert” ft Ab-Soul has this smooth boom bap sound fused with so many different sounds and effects throughout the entire record. Each record gives this quick glimpse into the many worlds Kembe is in at all times creatively. He does his very best to create records that are in a way more fast pace and experimental than his previous release this year..

Records like “NECK ON THE LOOSE” has this almost Gorillaz style sound that is almost more emo pop to a small degree and yet the bars are still spoken and can be understood very well. While records like “arizona summer Hope” has this almost “WZRD” inspired sound and song structure. This type of sound and style from Kembe is amazing to listen to as it’s so vulnerable and yet mature. While this project is constructed of 9 records and plays to 20 minutes it’s a short and very precise dive into what Kembe is capable of and what he is planning to do moving forward. No record sounds the same while he does his best to give the listener dozens of styles and vibes to take in from him. Kembe X does a great job with making each record compliment the other, to the point that it has great play through ability with no skips..

Our favorite records to play in the office are “Introverted Extrovert” ft Ab-Soul, “DEATH & TAXXXES”, “national anthem”, & “arizona summer hope”. Take a listen and let us know what you think..