Photo Credit: Christian Cassiel
The meditative-jazz infused project, created solely at Kiina’s Catford studio in South East London, is an inviting nine-track project bringing about a warmth for Brooklyn-raised, London-based rapper Goya Gumbani to lay out his verses full of introspection. Consisting heavily of jazz-samples and live instrumentation, the album moves through a variety of sounds, creatively sampling and allowing Gumbani to explore various melodies and ideas, throughout.
Opening with the jazz-key subtleness of ‘What’s The Prize’, Goya effortlessly weaves under the instrumental, introducing the sonic-tone of the album and allowing the sample to flood through, immediately. Moving into ‘Erica’, Goya drops the optimism for his observational-lyricism, whilst Kiina juxtaposes with his elaborate production. Heading into ‘Catford’, Kiina sits back and allows Goya to bring his lyricism to the forefront of the track, keeping the bouncy-jazz instrumental as a backdrop to his verse.
‘Babylon’ continues with a more percussive-production allowing Goya to explore his relationship with the world he finds himself in, whilst Kiina creates a breezy-melody, keeping it simple and maintaining a distinctive sound. Opting for a more Hip-Hop style and ending with a soulful live-guitar solo, ‘Blase’ keeps the energy up on this laid-back album, proving the pair can move through a multitude of genres whilst still maintaining consistency in their tone.
Starting with an almost Bossa-Nova-esque style for ‘Same Strings, Pt. 1’, the track leads into a more percussive, drum-driven sound layered with sporadic vocals and Gumbani and Lojii’s old-school Hip-Hop inspired flow. As warm harmonies lead to the end, ‘Things I’d Never’ opens with its haunting vocal sample before moving into a more experimental sound. Bringing the track back to Earth, soulful-trumpet samples, alongside Goya’s perfectly-fit flow navigate us through the ever-changing instrumental.
Rounding out the joint project ‘Sittin’ Right’, maintains the soulfulness of the album with more sampled vocals before a dragging bass and experimental keys make cohesion out of confusion. Again, Goya effortlessly moves within his flow throughout, keeping us on track. Finally, ‘Pennies’ comes as the last track, holding a heavy-percussion throughout with sliding soundscapes and keys, creating a dream-like production. A perfect way to round out this album, Goya continues to be taken away with the instrumental, fitting into pockets with ease as Kiina continues to evolve in his distinctive sound.
