Bite the Bullet

On her debut album, the stakes are high for K.Keed; she needs to heal and conquer the game. She’s not there yet, but she’s not willing to wait for the perfect moment. “It seems to me that the only way to face your fears is if you close your eyes and prepare to bite the bullet,” she raps on “Healed?”, opening a body of work that sees the Cape Town-born rapper and singer confront her fears head-on with therapeutic reflections. She does this through slice-of-life musings like, “I got a call this morning/I thought it was money but it was just debit orders,” on “Dilemma” and unflinching self-awareness: “My therapist wishing for some type of information/She don’t know that she dealing with a barracuda,” she raps on the moody “Clear as Day”. But it’s in the sonics where K.Keed proves brimming with dazzling ideas. Her therapy session has a high entertainment value, as she goes from confidently expressing her ambitions atop mellow trap beats (“Trailblazer”, “Dilemma”, “Hi Hopes”, “Imposter Syndrome”) to dropping battle-ready bars over a drumless pitched-up sample loop on “3pm in Kempenville”, a scornful read of a rapper she doesn’t name. In the median section of the project, she overlaps to dance music where her airy vocals glide over delicate keys, warm synths, filtered pads and slushy percussion like on the Shekhinah-featuring “Feel a Lil”. She and her guests Sino Msolo and Zoë Modiga’s motivational lyrics on “Khululekha” are bolstered by a mellow amapiano beat that’s further decorated by Mi Casa member Mo-T’s signature trumpet. That iconic house group’s lead singer J’Something, alongside singer Kaylow, assists on the soothing Afropop track “Indaba Yethu” built on log drum squelches. K.Keed rides pulverising trap basslines on “Save ’Em”, “uMvuzo Wam”, “Legwork” and album closer “Year 24”, where a combative electric guitar competes with a groaning bassline, creating the perfect environment for hers and Nasty C’s energetic raps.