“You’re supposed to be the life of the party,” Kojey Radical chides himself on the spoken-word opener for his new album, Don’t Look Down. But he’s preoccupied: “How many homies didn’t make it?” he asks. “How many times did I count the empty seats, instead of the ones that showed their faces?”
One of the UK’s most talented wordsmiths, the artist born Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah is at the height of his powers on this long-awaited follow-up to 2022’s Reason to Smile. His debut album was a Mercury Prize-shortlisted melting pot of hip-hop, funk and soul; the songs explored Blackness, women, sex, fatherhood, family and faith. Tracks such as “Payback” threw down the gauntlet with gold-glinting flair, while “Gangsta” was dedicated to his mother, his biggest champion.
