Coming off the success of his sophomore album, Robots & Dinosaurs, Grammy nominated jack-of-all-trades Kokayi is proud to release the latest track from the album “Chanticleer.” The self-produced song – Kokayi produced all of Robots & Dinosaurs, save “Autumn Rules,” produced by Oddisee – again shows off Kokayi’s ability to blend a variety of musical styles to create a unique and infectious beat. Breaking away from the norm, Kokayi’s main inspiration for “Chanticleer” derives from the lack of originality in art. “Be original and break out of the boxes; stay way from the margins and labels that people try to apply to you or your art,” says Kokayi, and while it’s a topic that’s been explored before, Kokayi’s original approach, both lyrically and musically, breathes life into the topic. Enlisting his own children for the chorus, Kokayi gives the song a touch of Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life, while using the verses to spit witticisms, with lines like, “You try to box me Rocky/ I May Weather storms, golden boy cocky.”
Kokayi’s new album, Robots & Dinosaurs, is available now via QN5.
Download Kokayi’s “Chanticleer” here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/robots-dinosaurs/id396136677
Share on Facebook Tweet This
The Background:
Kokayi (Carl Walker) is a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, emcee, producer and educator. Koyaki (pronounced “Ko-Kah-Yee”) has already independently released his debut album Mass Instructions (2007), toured the world and snagged the 2009 Grammy-nod for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for his work as a vocalist and co-producer on “Lovin’ You (Music)” by Ethiopian singer Wayna. He also produced Wayna’s “Moonlight Rendezvous” which spent 7 consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Top 10 R&B/ Hip Hop Singles and 100 Hot Singles Sales charts. Kokayi keeps busy on multiple fronts with several side-projects – as one half of the electro-hop duo, Dastardly (with DJ/Producer Sharkey), and his long-time Afropunk outfit, TheCaesarz. In 2009, Kokayi signed to NYC’s independent hip-hop beacon, QN5 Music as an in-house artist and producer.
Streams:
“Chanticleer”:
“Only”:
“RoxTar”:
“Autumn Rules”: