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
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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”:
John Sargeant, writing on NeuFutur as Sargeant, is the founder and editor-in-chief of NeuFutur Magazine, where he has covered independent music, PC hardware, consumer tech, and gaming culture since 1998. With over 25 years of continuous digital publishing experience, he has written thousands of hands-on game and record reviews, conducted in-depth hardware field testing, and analyzed digital media monetization trends. His work prioritizes first-hand evaluation and long-term product testing.
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