The “Runaway Worker” EP fills all the notches of what’s expected from a Ronald Mkiza project. It’s laced with gripping rhymes and deep metaphors. The song topics give us aspiring vignettes from his life, and his desire to succeed with his craft, which because of wild wordplay, has your interest on a leash. The fact that Mkiza finds a way to flow so well on these beats may be the most impressive thing about this album. Here the Afro-Danish artist, based in Copenhagen, blends his unique and interesting raconteur abilities with his almost inhuman capacity for metaphor, imagery and unusual vocabulary.
Ronald Mkiza has long been pushing lyrical boundaries and using his unmatched vocabulary to delight and challenge avid listeners. His newest release, takes this skill to new heights while also unlocking accessibility.
The EP’s lead single, “Black Virtue” details the odyssey of being within a minority and celebrating it. The hook is soulfully sung by LA artist KYN: “You stole my pride, hurt my soul. Knock my down like domino. You killed my pride, now where you go, you know I’ll go, I’ll follow.”
Ronald Mkiza has an extremely resonant and smooth voice, it’s both engaging and rebellious. The swift changes in cadence and the somewhat impassioned feel of this song make for a delightful sonic experience. The man articulates his words nicely and spits them out with authority. He has a ton of energy and sounds totally focused in this tune. That being said when Mkiza creates a good tune, it is jaw dropping good.
Mkiza’s booming voice is so just so damn soothing and smooth, but the thing that makes everything work is the phat beats that he is rapping over. The music consists of deep bass-lines, crafty snares and some sneaky keys, as well as various electronic effects that make their way into the arrangement.
“Black Virtue” is the kind of hip-hop track that you can just put on and let roll all day. It’s extremely addicting and soothing, while the backing vocals and hook by KYN are bone chilling.
The underground scene in music is a world that is undiscovered by many, but attentively followed and loved by others. That being said, it is a bit tough finding something that is worthwhile. Many of these backpack or indie rappers, are as pretentious and irritating as mainstream rappers are uninteresting and shallow.
They seem to believe that just because they aren’t mainstream that they are more real than anyone else, and thus can act as entitled as they want. Fortunately, that is not the case with Ronald Mkiza.
Mkiza makes it known that he is real, but does not necessarily act entitled because of it, making his attitude extremely likeable. His skills, his playful flow and vibrant lyricism all point towards an explosive record encapsulating all of the man’s attributes.
The most exciting aspect of Ronald Mkiza’s newest EP – “Runaway Worker” – is that it satisfies during its run-time, and this is a bigger achievement than one may assume. So once you move on from the single, I recommend to go directly to the EP.
OFFICIAL LINKS: TWITTER – FACEBOOK – INSTAGRAM – MEDANI ENTERTAINMENT – SPOTIFY
