ALBUM REVIEW : THE FEELING AINT FAIR

Ok.. so we a had our IDMs revving in wait for 6pm last week  for the download we’d been promised by Few Kings for their album “The Feeling Ain’t Fair”. Twitter was a crazy buzz with bloggers, fans and pretty much everyone all going on about the album we had listed on our list of Top 5 Most Anticipated albums for the rest of year.

The first feeling

Quick and attacking, true, nice beat “the bills wouldn’t bow to the beat so the thrills of the crowds went cheap preach”. This would be an awesome start to any album. Great intro guys!!

1.      Happy

Sounds a little changed at the beginning and we could tell that there was some extra production work done on the track. Fundamentally though, its the same track that was debuted at the Zim Hip Hop Awards of 2011 somehow, Still a bumpin track!

2.      Madrinks (remix)

Recently saw a tweet saying that “pihwai madrinks vaskana” were three words more powerful than “I love you” in Harare. The song has been redone, certain features of the sound have improved, or changed, which some may find commendable (we love it). After the added verse by TehnDiamond the song sounds like we had already known it. The extension of the mbira part is entertaining. The original was an awesome track and a touch of Tehn is never a bad thing.

3.      Boys Dzangu

“Nenjani dzakatsvuka...zvimaManeta..” A brilliant song but unfortunately loses a couple of marks for us because of its similarity to American rapper Kendrick Lamar’s “the art of peer pressure”. Go listen to Good Kid/ Maad City if you do not believe us. Certain aspects make it sound like a lighter hearted  Zimbabwean version of the Compton MC ‘s song on the album GKMC. However, there is something catchy about the part “this is the part I like right here”. We realised that after playing the album, (all through the weekend), that we could get used to it, and enjoy it none the less.

4.      The Realness

The song never loses the bite it had a couple of months ago!! Again the beat sounds like it was reworked and we love this clearer feel the tracks have, a true testimony of the time put into the project. Realness seems to be the most “street” song we have heard the group do. The extension of the beat for an almost two minutes is nice to drive to. (No Madrinks and driving okay)

5.      Fewkings

Did we say The Realness was the most street?? We take that back! This one is the most street. Both the Kings; of the North and South have spoken. The song is a killer lyrically. The beat another that has the signature sounds of TakeFizzo on it unless of course it wasnt. The beat might be bland for a person who isn’t a fan of old school hip hop, but it’s the stuff we live on.

6.      Summer

The beat on this song is TOP CLASS. The story telling and feel of the song makes us realise why he group decided to only want to release it on radio. The chorus makes you want to put it on repeat. It is not too loud, the vocals by SimbaTagz are on point as usual. This is the type of song you want to see a video for. Might be the best one on the album, it was well put together, it is easy to listen to and will easily make it as a ringtone. (coz everytime someone calls, you just want to hear it)

7.      Hapana

Naughty, “uchitambisa matama”? Oh..Playing with your cheeks?  Butt cheeks!! We get it. After that we were taken. It sounded like a cross between hip hop and dancehall. A party jam.

8.      H-town girl

“and tell your ex wakudanana ne bad boy, akasvika zvedzungu tomutsvukisa kunge Rabroy”. The beat is really dope dope doooope. The sampling as it starts is nice. TehnDiamond has this tendency of sounding too loud in a bit overwhelming way whenever he sings sometimes. The chorus was beautifully composed especially as it has a lusty voiced sounding girl to pair with Tehn Diamond Junior Brown delivers his standard.

9.      I need

If you liked it then and hadn’t gotten tired of it, then you still will like it. A soothing jam that can be listened to on a Sunday morning. The song your girlfriend will like...and you will like...because it’s just that nice.

10.  Go In

A lot of Hip Hop heads were probably expecting a lot more songs like these from the trio. The song is one that any MC would probably keep. A lot can be said about the chorus. We feel like this was TehnDiamonds home ground, the type of beat he kills, and he did, straight up murdered it, left the carcass just lying there. Ooh, so did Junior Brown! Punch lining his way through the first verse, “Ndicharamba ndichi shiner kunge zuda ra Tehn”

11.  The final feeling

The closing of the album which was a twin of the Intro, shout outs. Just as awesome as the intro

Overview

The album is no doubt a great listen. It isn’t too long, so you can easily find yourself back at track one. The mastering of the tracks was top notch. It looks like the combination of the three artists’ works well. They complement each other well, (Vernacular and English).  The song ‘summer’ and ‘Htown girl part 2’ have really great vocals, ‘Go in’ is quick and nice. The album is not too loud, you don’t have to skip any song on this one.

Junior Brown does well in such partnerships, lets not forget the award winning “THE HRE Mixtape” where he partnered with MC Chita. Which one would be better though? The Feeling Ain’t Fair or The HRE Mixtape? In as much as that is subject to opinion, when the two are weighed against each other, one had more ‘rap’ features whereas the Few Kings Album. Maybe having more features would have made a little more diverse. The management of the album overall before the release was commendable, the count down to the release on a new website and release itself was epic, WHAT ABOUT THE ACTUAL MUSIC?

This is one of the nicest albums ever made in Zimbabwe, you can tell that time was put to give us a good product. The mastering is unquestionable, the themes are very Zimbabwean, the lyrics are well thought out and it is why, its Few Kings that are worthy to be the face of Zimbabwean Hip Hop.

But, lets look at it, The mixtape SOTG3 was WOW! Synik’s, “ Syn-City” was amazing, OutSpokens Double Album Uncool and Overrated /God Before Everything was legendary. Does “The Feeling Aint Fair” deserve to be on the same shelf with the above?

Somehow, we feel like, the downside of the album is that, you will probably skip through the first half of the album. Not because the songs are boring, it’s simply because, we have had them for quite some time. Its like waiting for a present for so long, unwrapping the box and you see the same phone you have always had only this time with a lot more cool applications, better cover, a couple of added accessories and faster processing plus bigger memory. The album has been criticized for giving listeners too much of what they already had. On a 12 track album, minus the intro and outro, we knew the other five songs. We really would’ve hoped for more new material, instead, we were given remakes and singles. The upside of these songs is however that, they have a good staying power. This means that in as much as these songs had been there, they are still as hot as the first time they were released. Maybe they are saving the rest of the good stuff for their own Solo albums, you never know.

At the end of it all, that is (maybe save the not so thumpy beats, which really we have no problem with) that’s the only downside of the album. The rest is perfect. You gotta hand it to them, they outdid a lot of Hip Hop artists not only in Zimbabwe, but in the region too. Our advice is, get a copy, it’s worth getting a hard copy for, that is why we give it the highest rating we have ever given any music we have ever publicly reviewed. If all this sounds like Greek to you go here www.fewkings.com 

3.5/5 STARS.

PUSH