“You’re supposed to be the life of the party,” Kojey Radical chides himself on the spoken-word opener for his new album, Don’t Look Down. But he’s preoccupied: “How many homies didn’t make it?” he asks. “How many times did I count the empty seats, instead of the ones that showed their faces?”
One of the UK’s most talented wordsmiths, the artist born Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah is at the height of his powers on this long-awaited follow-up to 2022’s Reason to Smile. His debut album was a Mercury Prize-shortlisted melting pot of hip-hop, funk and soul; the songs explored Blackness, women, sex, fatherhood, family and faith. Tracks such as “Payback” threw down the gauntlet with gold-glinting flair, while “Gangsta” was dedicated to his mother, his biggest champion.
Don’t Look Down achieves a similar alchemy but moves the conversation forward. With a typically eclectic group of collaborators, Kojey offers a stylish, candid insight into his life over the past four years. Many of these tracks play out like late-night conversations between friends. One, literally titled “Conversation”, bursts into life with skittery grooves from drummer The Pocket Queen; Kojey goes toe-to-toe with peppery, rapid-fire bars while MNEK provides gospel-styles harmonies against the snarl of a rock guitar.
Kojey seems intent on proving his network is a global one. Canadian hip-hop trio Planet Giza join him for the off-kilter R&B jam “Expensive”, while Texan crooner Dende appears on the brooding “Long Day”, a hedonistic quest to forget, just for a moment. Closer to home is Brixton MC Cristale, to whom he hands over “Problems” for a flawless verse delivered on top of tumbling piano keys.
The musicianship, too, is outstanding. A closing skit on “Long Day”, in which he observes an attractive woman at a party, sinks beautifully into “On Call”, where he finds himself talking to her (“call me Love”). “How you here with no amigos?” he asks, before we hear a forlorn gust of Mariachi trumpets. Not content with just one drum prodigy, he enlists both Moses Boyd and Ezra Collective’s Femi Koleoso for “On Call” to lay down fills and grooves that amplify the song’s paranoid tone.
Kojey’s all-encompassing creative approach ensures that his narrative – questioning whether he is capable of love, doubting his own success – remains clear throughout. He’s tired on “Drinking My Water”, trying his best to stay on the right path: “I’m at war with my discipline. I’ve been seeking deliverance/ I’m allergic to ignorance. I’ve been building my tolerance/ Maybe I’m too benevolent. Maybe they're just irrelevant.”
Vulnerable lyrics contrast perfectly with his signature deep, gruff voice, such as on “Curtains”, on which he confesses: “I never understood how you did it/ But you did it with no complaints/ Show me how to love you with no restraints. I hate that/ I hate that I hold on to trauma. Twinning with the traits that I got from my father.” Don't Look Down is a superb album, his best to date.
