Khyron Alexander Henry, better known by his artist alias “King Khy”, presents a darker, aggressive brand of hip-hop characterised by his use of low, growling basses and his technical, rhymes-first flow — and on his latest albu, “King Me”, he presents a continuing evolution of his sound in a 13-track magnum opus. Keep reading for my thoughts!
The opener to “King Me” is ‘THA KING’, a dark, downtempo aggressive hip-hop track that immediately gets the listener to grips with King Khy’s sound. From the very first second, the basses are down low in the subs, Khy’s rhyming with aplomb, and the flow is spicy and technical. With subtle dancing around the tick of the meter, Khy introduces some good syncopation going on, which is further compounded by the sampling work going on in the background. The middle of the track is characterised by a half-sung, half-rapped style that alternates between the hook and the verses, making for a versatile listen.
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Segueing into the second track, “Let Em Cook Up” turns up the pace a little but, while still maintaining excellent experimentation in terms of the sound textures that make up the production ensemble. King Khy retains the low, ringing 808s, and mixes in some ad-libs that grant the track a good amount of atmosphere due to their mixing style. The delivery remains mostly straight, a 4-to-the affair, but there’s the trademark syncopation from the first track that continues to shine through on this one.
As we journey further into the album, we’re hit with “Now The Place Smells Exotic”, which marks a bit of a departure from the downtempo nature of “King Me” so far, instead going into a bit more a trap hip-hop inspired sound with great bounce on the hi hats, while the kicks punch well down low, and the snares ring through the mix quite nicely.
At this point, it seems prudent to speak of the production on “King Me”; steering clear of a generic sound, King Khy manages to retain enough bounce and variation across the various tracks on the album like “It’s King Khy”, “Had To Do It”, and “What’s Competition?” to present a sound that evolves, and is enjoyable as a listen. The use of sampling work throughout “King Me” is a standout aspect of the production on this album, and while it’s conventionally a hard aspect to get just right, I’m glad to report that “King Me” achieves that with much success.
The mixing and mastering on the album varies in dimensionality, and really comes into its own when it comes to highlighting the vocals of King Khy – and there is excellent control in the low-end, managing to tame the basses quite nicely, while letting the rest of the percussive ensemble shine through. The mixes are clear and consistent across the album, and that’s a good thing!
All in all, by the time we bring “King Me” to a close with “Hit The Buzzer”, the sound of the album quite nicely comes full circle, with a well-bodied and rounded sound that brings enough lyrical complexity and production versatility to keep this album an interesting listen from start to finish. Take a listen to the album here:
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