Chicago, IL emcee and top Dawg Entertainment affiliate Kembe X returns with his third full-length album produced by Sacramento duo Hippie Sabotage and his first in nearly 5 years. He started his career more than ten years ago with his debut EP soundtrack II Armgeddon and debut mixtape Self Rule. With his debut LP Talk Back and self-titled second EP and second album I Was, His profile continued to evolve. Depressed until I did it. He had collaborated with the Saurer brothers a few times in the past, but after a full year of hard work, they finally released Sleep Paralysis.
“Fade the Sun” begins with a bouncy dance intro telling anyone who wants his stuff to get in line, while “Pole Vaulting” skips over a trap instrumental and talks about how to get over this bullshit. “King” reminds everyone with a bouncier beat that he’s royalty in these parts before the synth-driven “Love Songs” takes a melodic approach to talking about never seeing a romantic king go wrong.
At the end of the first half, “Shallow” brought a somber vibe to the table, hoping to be known as a visionary who did it first when all was said and done, and the atmospheric “Where the Devil Comes to Die” admits that he almost lost his soul and sacrificed his peace. Before the wavy “Rolling Stoned,” starring Isaiah Rashad, talks about staying cold, fresh, and clean, “Kill Everything in the Way” announces itself as the new leader of the resistance with its slow-paced beat .
Without a doubt, one of my favorite songs on the album has to be “Startup,” from the groovy instrumental to the inspirational lyricism that encourages people to start a business because they can’t be employees of the middle man forever, and finally, “Baby I’m Up ” ends “Sleep Paralysis” with a seven-and-a-half-minute ode to his success as people try to leave him to fend for himself and drag his name through the mud.
After keeping fans waiting forever, TDE have been slowly but surely allowing the biggest artists on their roster to release new music in recent years, so Kembe’s return makes perfect sense, and something new listeners will find themselves invested in. He was exploring new sounds with the help of Hidden Destruction, and the subject matter was more personal than his earlier work.
Score: 8/10
