RELEASED 1ST NOVEMBER 2019

Favourite track: G Love

An album that looks at the conflict between allowing success to be the revenge, ending on an emotional note that has left me wondering how I’m nearly in tears listening to a UK rap album

I had been introduced to the South-London duo, Krept & Konan, before and was keen to listen to their new 13-track album Revenge Is Sweet. The cover art is really artsy as it displays a Horror film like image of the artists at a convenience store counter serving a little girl in a red-dress with pigtails dressed in Victorian-era clothing. The blue lighting contrasted with the bits of red and then the album title written across almost like it’s been etched or scratched onto it gives off that Horror flick vibe even more.

The first track ‘Goat Level’ begins with an eerie deep choral echo on repeat as they open with “don’t compare me to these rappers” as the choral work gets louder. The beat is HARD and there is a reference to Pennywise – yeah, it was released one day after Halloween of course. The rap is aggressive and attacks straight away with references to loads of US artists like Kanye West and Ariana Grande. The track ends with an audio about how UK artists need to “take it to the next stage” and how it’s about making money and stunting on people as they “don’t dig for ice”, they wear it now. ‘Salaam’ has a nice guitar and slower beat here as they rap nostalgically about their journey featuring a chorus with some Arabic and how “only good hearts win in the end”. Headie One and K-Trap feature on ‘I Spy’ which has that typical UK Rap/Drill and hard beat with warped synths and vocal FX in the background. It’s another song with attack.

‘Keep Talking’ (ft. Stormzy and Cadet) has that haunting soft bell melody in the background whilst they rap fast on top about how their life is a world away from how they grew up and “real life shit”. The skit entitled ‘Love And Guidance’ sounds like a woman (waitress/bartender – something like this) who knows them telling them the best revenge is success, which seems to be the message of the album. ‘Revenge Is Sweet’ has a solid, wavey instrumental backing with slower rap and beats as he talks about how girls use him for clout, people waste his time and how they don’t need anyone to do a job they can do on their own. I mean, wise words. They also talk about all the successes they have had including their own brand, Play Dirty and how they sell out tours. ‘G Love’ (ft. WizKid) has an Afrobeat tune which you have to dance to. If you’re not moving I don’t know what you’re doing.

‘First Time’ includes Spice and Tory Lanez as they rap about a guy taking a girl’s virginity. I like the piano synth melody and then the chorus which adds another dimension to the tune. MoStack features on ‘Cheating On Wifey’ which has a hard beat as he asks if he “sleeps with my gun is that cheating on wifey?”. I like the instrumentals in ‘Tell Me’ (ft. D-Block Europe and Ling Hussle) and the beat is a good one to move to. ‘Forgiveness’ opens with crazy synths and then an RnB/Hip-Hop old school style beat with hi-hat. The background vocal FX add depth to the tune which makes it even more listenable. There is another skit of an audio which is about a guy speaking about mental health problems as a “young black boy” and how there is a stigma around speaking out. It’s extremely emotive and raw as he touches on the idea of suicide but then decides to seek help instead of go through with it because “we can all make it out of those problems”. It’s an important message and leads into the final track ‘Broski’ which opens with gorgeous piano and female vocals as they sing about having lost someone. It’s massively emotional as they talk about how they had plans and memories before they lost the person.             

An incredibly varied and unique UK rap album with important messages so it’s good to listen properly to all the lyrics and the story they’re telling.