Kilo Kish - K+ [Mixtape Review]

Sup dawg, it's Bill Nye's 2nd cousin aka Proffessor MPC, aka Big Ghost's prodigy, but you may know me as a nerd that goes on the internet by Waverly Spades. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this artist, Kilo Kish, while watching Red Bull's Hashtag$ series. (I'm definitely going to write a post about the series soon.) I wanted to listen to some of the artists featured on the show, so I downloaded her latest mixtape, K+. Honestly, I thought it would suck because she was classified in this genre called "Tumblrwave." I'm already not too fond of tumblr, and in the comments, I read that they only featured the weird Tumblr artists. I know Tumblr gets reeeally weird (and some of the artists featured in that episode were seemingly weird), so I slept on this for a while, but today, while I was washing laundry and scrolling through my Zune for a song, I was tired of seeing it just waste space, so I decided I'd figure if I really liked it or not.

Intro - In my downloaded copy, this track was titled "K+," so I expected some title song. After watching the promo video for this mixtape, I assume she's talking with some person about the place she had the launch party for the tape. Immediately, the pure conversation reminds me of Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Allderdice. That made me a bit sad because I really didn't like that mixtape and all the interviews seemed so generic. My expectations for this tape are very low at this point.

Goldmine (feat. Jesse Boykins III) [prod. by Star Slinger] - Ahhhh.. So the music comes in and look at that--- it isn't as bad as I expected! This track actually caught me a little offguard, but I'm glad it did. Throughout the song, Kish talks of some guy she likes that ignores her and doesn't know. It's so simplistic and elegant, but throws me off. Now I'm wondering what else this tape holds..
4.5/5

Ghost (feat. Childish Gambino) [prod. by Matt Martians & SBTRKT] - In the interview before this song, the male voice asks if she did a voice with someone named "Donald." Of course I presumed it was just some random nigga I've never heard of until DONALD FUCKING GLOVER comes in like "ghost!" This song is crazy. The beginning of the beat reminds me of Trinidad Jame$', All Gold Everything. It's a song that I didn't think I would like, but this is probably one of my favorite tracks on the whole thing. The beat is great too. Now I'm curious. How did this girl I never hear of before this get a feature from Childish Gambino? It's crazy. I'm also questioning what is she doing? Would you call that rapping or just talking? Why did she pull in Childish Gambino for a feature, but only get him to do a Rumor Has It Part 2 remix? hmm
"He mean with the text that says 'I like you.' Smiley face. one with Heartsy eyes. Ooh, you smiling?"
5/5

Trappin (feat. Vince Staples) [prod. by Earl Sweatshirt] - Now I'm really wondering, how am I just finding this girl? Like how did she get a beat from Earl Sweatshirt? Where'd she get a feature from Vince Staples?  Just gimme a minute to take a minute to take in the fact that she's sorta famous.. I thought they picked up random people on Tumblr for that episode of Hashtag$. This song isn't anything about Trappin'. It should be called "Pimpin'." Vince's verse sounds so lazy. This track is like the Hip Hop version of ethereal.
3.4/5

IOU [prod. by Matt Martians] - Now it's starting to annoy me that Kilo's voice is consistently monotonic. This is something I've never heard in female rappers, but it's new. At first, the whole song is sort of annoying, but I'm really in love with the chorus. Again, she's whining about some boy, but she does it so classily.
3.7/5

Turquouise (feat. Jesse Boykins III) [prod. by PROF CALC] - This track amazes me, but it annoys me that I can't always hear her vocals over the beat. The outro is so interesting to me.. Dream in turquoise.. Is this some female cry of the blues. So many interpretations, right here..
"First you find me crazy, but then you find out I was right"
4.8/5

Scones (feat. Childish Gambino) [prod. by Childish Gambino] - Is she talking to Childish Gambino on the phone? WHAT? I WANT TO TALK TO CHILDISH GAMBINO ON THE PHONE. (no homo.) It seems like at this point of the mixtape, she's no longer a cute girl hoping a boy would notice her. Now Kish wants that boy who noticed her to pay attention to her. Interesting change in tone.
"I know we say it, but we never do."
3.5/5

Love2K (feat. A$AP Ferg & Smash Simmons) [prod. by Very Rare] - Ferg did his typical Ferg shit. At one point he talks about being a baby's father. I doubt he's about that life. And then he sings.... and it's ethereal and reverbed out, so it's cool, but still.. that pitch... Kilo shows us that she's not like any other black girl who you might want to hit. It's a weird, but nice perspective to hear in female hip hop. You don't hear a lot of women rapping like "I'm my own woman, and not glorifying sex, just those little dashes of love I think I have." She's like a teenager. It's funny, but heartwarming.
"Give a fuck about a Fendi Prada if a nigga tryna holla"
3.8/5

Better (feat. Andrea Balency) [produced by Patrick Paige of The Internet] - This is probably the most touching song on the album. I'm pretty sure Kilo talks about what every girl feels at one point  or  another with guys. I guess I can't for know for sure, but girls tend to get really jealous of eachother for the simplest reasons. The bubbly pads really let you feel what Kish is feeling. This is a great song and really shows how conscious Kish can get.
"Tomorrow, she'll be Barbie and I'll be kicked out."
5.1/5

Creepwave (feat. Flatbush Zombies) [prod. by Cronos] - This is a very angry ending. Sad songs turn into mad songs. The tsundere, male protagonist turned antagonist is officially labeled a typical jerk. The beat is dark. The zombies go crazy. I feel I could say so much about this, but it speaks wonders for itself.
4.5/5

I honestly had a negative denotation of this tape before listening to it. I was reading an article on Complex a few days ago that said most Tumblr rap was bad, so I thought this might prove that for me. That guy was wrong though. Kilo Kish is some weird mix of Tumblrwave and Cloud rap. Half the time, I can't tell if she's rapping, that's her actually talking voice, or if she is singing very short notes. She's the most monotonic female rapper I've ever heard. And I hate categorizing her as a female rapper because rappers should just be rappers, not rappers and female rappers, but she is the most openly conscious female rapper I've ever heard.  Are all females that aren't Barbz, actually the female versions of betamales? I don't even want to call her a rapper. She's really just an artist.. Well she's much more than an artist. This mixtape was the journey of a girl who loved, got hurt, and got mad. It's a very Taylor Swift approach. She was asking for the guy in Goldmine, but by Ghost, she complained about how he teased her. I feel like if I was a girl, I'd be able to relate to this tape more, but being the douchebag betamale she raps about, I guess I can somewhat relate. (I swear CG's verse in Ghost was me talking.) Musically, the beats are so well put together in simplicity. Themes don't tend to confuse, but rather intrigue and lead you on. The parts where she's talking to her engineer (or whoever that random guy is), it's more authentic than I originally expected it to be. K+ was (don't call me cliche for saying this) a new musical experience for me. Check it out and leave your thoughts in the comments.
85.1% - B

This review was brought to you by Waverly Spades and now I'm off to not smoke. Happy 4/20!

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