This is the 7th studio LP from St. Paul’s, Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee Wish Master. Someone who’s dropped a total of 5 extended plays along with his last 6 full-lengths in nearly a decade including his Illinformed-produced 4th album Cold Harbour Tales, which was a bit of a disappointment because it had an excessive amount of features than I would’ve hoped. I was however interested in learning London veteran Micall Parknsun would be fully producing Kings of Kemet coming off the underwhelming reception of His Story merely 7 months earlier.
“No Humble Fashion” kicks things off with a boom bap intro talking about those hating from the sidelines simultaneously following the guidelines of this rap shit whereas “Break the Mould” featuring Axel Holy recaptures the chemistry of their 1st Nature collaborative effort. “180” featuring Gaza Glock & Krush soulfully yet dustily talks about all 3 of them coming from nothing but once “Survived” also featuring Krush applauds those fighting to live, “Stick & Move” ends the 1st leg claiming himself to be an underdog.
To get the 2nd act going, “Trap House” talks about being a boss who lets his employers keep the gold while “Who We Are” featuring Ray Vendetta finds the pair desiring to work overtime to achieve their desires of raising the bar even though they can only be their true selves. “What I Do” featuring King Kashmere aggressively teams up to talk about always having a plan while “Cradle to the Stage” speaks of forever moving forward. “Say Goodbye” appropriately wraps up Kings of Kemet on a soulful note talking about being the one they fear.
As someone who’s enjoyed his appearances on Datkid’s 6th album Wakmo or Illinformed’s full-length debut Illin’ for Meds, I knew Wish Master had the capability of making something that would really stand out amongst the rest of discography & Kings of Kemet makes up for being let down towards Cold Harbour Tales with what I can confidently call his finest collection of solo material. Micall Parknsun’s boom bap production goes harder than His Story’s & it’s refreshing to hear the O.R. Records founder by himself more even if it’s for only half of it.
Score: 4/5
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