A few weeks back I had a chance to link up with Kembe X while he was in town for the These Days… Tour. Me and my homie James Crewneck picked him and a pack of Backwoods up, went to the crib, sparked up and got to talking.
On November 25, 2011, we were introduced to a young Chicago emcee by the name of Kembe X. It was the day he unleashed his debut project Self Rule to the world, and thus began his journey to hip hop prominence. While he was just a teenager, Kembe was well beyond his years in terms of skill, and gained much attention because of this project.
He drew influences from some of the most well-respected hip hop minds of all time; MF DOOM, Nas, Kanye and more were all apart of what helped mold him into the artist he was then, and has become today.
From HotNewHipHop to 2DopeBoyz, Kembe was being lauded by some of today’s most influential critics, and thus began his rise as one of Chicago’s finest emcees. As he got older, his music matured as he did—not necessarily the message, but how he packaged that message. “I always have the same direction or message, I just try to tell it more abstractly or simply to where it doesn’t really feel like a message.”
Following the success of his debut, Kembe’s popularity snowballed and was rode all the way to the release of his second project, Soundtrack II Armageddon.
“When I was listening to it, I’m like, ‘Man, this is undeniable. This is great.'” The seven-track EP held some of Kembe’s finest work to date, and was well received by anyone’s ears it touched. Even so, he had higher expectations for the project. “I didn’t have a plan, my shit wasn’t organized. After that let-down, I was still making music, but I wanted it to be right—it didn’t feel right. I just started to become more critical of my music.”
This sparked a long break from releasing anything. Kembe was still making records, but kept a low profile. His name still held weight in the minds of fans, bloggers and fellow artists, leaving us to question why he was staying so quiet, and when we would hear something new.
Well, he returned triumphantly with a bang(er), in the form of “Attention Deficit Disorder.”
This re-introduction of Kembe X was originally supposed to be with a song titled “Patience Pt. 2″—a sequel to “Patience” from his first project. However, the day before, Kembe was advised to drop “A.D.D.” instead. “The day I was supposed to put it out, someone that I really, really respect told me that ‘A.D.D.’ was just a better song to drop first after not putting anything out for a long time. From there we just started getting together the songs that we would put out right now.”
When I asked him about his next project and when he was planning to drop it, he was unsure about a specific date. At the time, he was in the meat of Ab-Soul’s These Days… Tour, and wasn’t going to be done with it until October 14th.
While he does have the material to drop a project in November, he definitely seems like he wants to take his time with it. “There’s a possibility I drop it around the same time I dropped Self Rule. If not, like, around then. It could be Spring. If it takes ’til the Summer just know that it’s gonna be the one, haha.” He also mentioned how it will indeed be a full-length project. “10, 15. I could do 20,” he laughs.
Kembe is well on his way to being nationally known and a lot of people’s favorite rapper. I personally believe he is one artist who is not only maintaining the integrity of hip hop, but furthering it. It’s been fun seeing how far he’s come in just a few years, and I’m mad excited to see what’s next for him.
Follow him on Twitter & Soundcloud
Long live hip hop.
–Hef
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