Gohan The Supreme Kai – ‘For The Better’

It’s really easy to look at Miami, Florida artist, Gohan The Supreme Kai as another flash-in-the-pan emo, sad, or hyped rapper, capitalizing on the success of Juice WRLD, Lil Peep, XXXTentacion and their legions of copycats. At first glance, it seem quite easy to write this artist off, but something about his music is compelling. Maybe it’s his knack for extreme catchiness, or the fact that he’s actually a good singer and rapper at the same time. More surprisingly, his album “Heartbreak Moon” is an extremely enjoyable listening experience.

While Gohan The Supreme Kai uses the Auto-Tune effect like his peers to add echoing emotional pull to the songs, it isn’t overdone to the point of annoyance. In fact, it smartly compliments the music very well. Even without said Auto-Tune, Gohan The Supreme Kai is still a very competent singer; he has good range, his tone sounds great, and his able to carry a song alone. His skills as a rapper are in line too, as he flows well throughout the recording.

Gohan The Supreme Kai’s biggest strengths, as mentioned before, is his knack for catchiness and the emotional nuances he squeezes into each track. “Heartbreak Moon” is absolutely brimming with affecting earworms from front to back. If he wasn’t on your radar before, there’s no escaping him now.

It soon becomes clear that alongside the bevy of scintillating beats, Gohan The Supreme Kai’s vocals are often among the most captivating elements here – simultaneously fresh and streetwise, with genuine chops that have matured to perfection.

The album opener, “For The Better” and “Perfect”, also tell us that Gohan The Supreme Kai’s lyrical game is strong too, with a masterful balance of simile and straight-talking in the verses.

By the time you hit on the slow-burning groove of “Will You”, the deep-voiced testimony of “I Think”, or the booming 808’s of “Right Now”, its clear that Gohan The Supreme Kai’s stylized sound is set in stone at this point. His emotional, keyboard-crowded melodic emo-rap has already taken a center spot in its quest to mesmerize audiences.

“Be Myself” ft Jocelyn Rodriguez is an absolute standout, as the male-female vocal contrast brings a soulful and immersive listening experience with Gohan The Supreme Kai playing superbly off both Rodriquez’s crooning and the minimal beat. Overall the two do an excellent job together.

“Dial Tone” sees the rapper go into full crooning mode himself, as he rides a throbbing beat. A handclapping, head nodding low-end rumble drives the infectious “Dead Right” before the shimmering keys light up the bang of “Go To Hell”.

The lowlight R&B ambiance engulfs the luxurious sounds of “Deeper” prior to Gohan The Supreme Kai shifting up a gear on the resonating “Hey Girl”. “Love In My Brain” encapsulates everything that makes this artist such a compelling writer. Here he actually yields the record’s most self-assured moment by directly moving out of his comfort zone. Gohan The Supreme Kai is on pugnacious form on “Joint” and delivers what is undoubtedly one of the most fully realized rap compositions on the album, followed closely by “Woke”.

If the intention behind “Heartbreak Moon” was to show Gohan The Supreme Kai artistic range and prove that he’s ready to be a star, it’s safe to say that he excelled on both counts.