King P has done the unthinkable for a UK producer and has come up smelling of roses. P, a man of considerable musical background, has crafted 12 tracks from scratch and cast in that classic West Coast mould. Where that isn’t the case the Dirty South sound lends its sonics. ‘Royal Dubz’ comes across as a tribute to the music he loves and as a result the listener gets a treat – banging and musical Hip Hop music.
Despite having a definite sound no two songs are alike. ‘RRS’ features a rock riff that any guitar hero would be proud of but its predecessor ‘Shake It’ is mellow and R’n’B-esque, ‘Bread On It’ is menacing whereas ‘Crunk Tonight’ has bare Caribbean party vibes.
Featuring UK and US MCs and singers, this LP is an easy listen. ‘Won’t Stop’ heads up proceedings with our own Yogi taking control of the mic. Slix and Tommy D represent the UK on ‘Easy’ and ‘Shake It’. South 71, Donovin Heights, Justin Mills and Kel Spencer provide vocals for the rest of the tracks.
After being reminded of King P by Tricksta's mixtape inclusion of his track 'Won't Stop' featuring Yogi I dug out a track he sent me and checked out his myspace a bit more properly. Sometimes even I overlook absolute talent and for this I apologise.
'Won't Stop' has got the west coast funk swing and it's sister track is 'Lowrider' featuring US MC Kel Spencer, who I've featured on here before. It's a forceful track that morphs into an agressive beast in the chorus. King P is a UK producer but with this transatlantic collaboration he's bound to find fans worldwide - the sound he's perfected certainly has mass appeal.
King P played all the instruments on 'Lowrider' from guitar to piano to programming the drums and arranging the string parts and has been championed by high calibre DJs and radio stations like Dynmaite MC, Manny Notre, Big Ted & Shortee Blitz Kiss Fm, Ras Kwame, Westwood and BBC 1xtra.
His whole album 'Royal Dubz' is available now on Amazon as a digital download. It features aforementioned Kel Spencer and Yogi as well as up and coming artist such as Justin Mills, Donovin Heights, South 71, Kitt, Slix and Tommy D.
Me: There's a rapper called Kel Spencer who has a single out today. You: What's up with all these 'real name no gimmick' MC's at the moment? Me: I know. But this MC isn't actually called Kel.
You: So what's this Kel Spencer like? Is she good?
Me: It's a bloke, he's alright actually. He Co-wrote/ghost-wrote Switch by Will Smith.
You: Oh, I remember that track. It was pretty big in the charts and the clubs and that. But that's not exactly a good thing is it? I mean...Will Smith?
Me: Well, no. But this dude does obviously have the knack for writing a attention grabbing smash hit and it means he's sold a good few records!
You: So has he done anything a little more credible? Y'know, something I can be down with?
Me: Yeah fo' sho. He was on Jazzy Jeff's latest album on a track called 'The Definition'. Jazzy Jeff also said he's "The best rapper you've never heard of" and DJ Premier stated "Kel Spencer is Hip Hop". Can't mess with Premo can ya?
You: Oh. No.
'The Building' is definitely a club banger right down to the fact he's talking about being in a club. This track could easily be played alongside 'Pump it Up' by Joe Budden, 'Right Thurr' by Chingy and 'Tipsy' by J-Kwon. Make of that what you will. The track revolves around a Lil' Jon style chorus (the title of this post), a bassy kick andsome synthy claps.
Kel employs a funny little way of pronouncing his rhyming words ("I'ma turn it ud der du up//I'ma stutter der du der//See me push that whip through the hood der du der") that will have loads of girls drunkenly trying to imitate when it comes on. Spencer is on a 'this-is-how-great-I-am' trip here so expect to hear him compare himself to a pair of fancy kicks ("Im the latest edition, Limited der du der") amongst other such braggadocious metaphors.
By now the conversation between me and you is probably something like this:
You: But...you don't usually like this sort of music.
Me: No, I don't but you must understand this is a club track and it's a good club track. I mean, most clubs aren't gonna be playing Jehst or Braintax at their Hip Hop/R'n'B nights. No, those nights are made for music like this and therefore this music has it's place.
You: OK then, you have a point. I'm not going to deny I've never been on a night out to a place like that so I wont argue anymore!
King P has done the unthinkable for a UK producer and has come up smelling of roses. P, a man of considerable musical background, has crafted 12 tracks from scratch and cast in that classic West Coast mould. Where that isn’t the case the Dirty South sound lends its sonics. ‘Royal Dubz’ comes across as a tribute to the music he loves and as a result the listener gets a treat – banging and musical Hip Hop music.
Stumble It!
