I feel like there are many people our age that consider hip hop some of the best music these days– and honestly, there are a lot of albums that deserve a lot of praise– we’ve all heard of people gate keeping their favorite small artists to keep them small, but personally, I don’t see a single point in that.
If one were to truly love an artist – or their art, why would you not want to spread that love with other people?
In a way, that’s why I’m writing this. When I had listened to this album for the first time, I cried because of the emotions placed into this full piece, and since then it has not left my daily repeat playlists when going throughout my day.
Kevin Smith– hailing from Cabra in Dublin, Ireland, is professionally known by the alias Kojaque. The artist is often seen with his on-stage dorky appearance consisting of, zoot suit, and faux gold tooth, thousand yard stare. Perfectly imitating of characters like Al Capone in a cartoonish-style, some of Smith’s TikTok comments addressing his character, Jackie Dandelion’s appearance, claiming the makeup and entity to be ‘terrifying’ in its own nature.
Sitting only at 138,866 monthly listeners, the artist is still considered smaller, in comparison to many others within the same genre. Outside of the clear visual feast of the eyes for the bright yellow main album cover, adorned with the character has very minute details only noticed when looking closely at the cover.
Regarding the album, therein lies a treasure trove of songs I would highly compare to Tyler the Creator-like world and character building rarely seen otherwise within artists today.
Please be aware: when talking about this album, I will be focusing on my personal interpretation, rather than assuming what Smith is trying to portray using musical, sound, and lyrical clues, and I am just one person.
Overall, this is what made the piece mean something to me, and it could be different for someone else that listens to it.
Much of the arc of the elusive Jackie Dandelion is similar to his creation of Igor, to me, but more of that later to when we address the lyrics of the album.
The album touches on different things– grief, loss, breakups, the difficulty of change, and overall the aspect of how growth is possible even during times that could possibly be the worst.
It’s truly hard to describe Kojaque. I personally say give him a listen, only because I truly think his unique storytelling and flare give him a great opportunity to being a soon to be up-and-coming artist in the United States.
