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Album Review: Kadesh Flow - Gateways

https://kadeshflow.bandcamp.com/There are a lot of people who rap about anime, video games and other nerdy things. They often reject the nerdcore label and swear that they're deeper than that without ever showing anything else. Kadesh Flow is different. He embraced the genre and released three mixtapes in the Nerdcrunk series. Those were great but Gateways is something much greater.Gateways does have the occasional anime or game reference, but as a whole it's a much more diverse project. Gateways take's a deeper look into the life and beginnings of  Kadesh Flow as well as his current life and the struggles he faces in every day life.

Let's start with the flow. I've been listening to Kadesh Flow for a while and I always tried to figure out who he reminded me of. I finally figured it out, Krizz Kaliko. He reminds me of Krizz Kaliko in the sense that he can rap very but also sings majority of the hooks and mixes various melodies into verses. This isn't a negative comparison because Kadesh manages to make the style his own. Kadesh prefers to flow more than sing on tracks. He also flows much faster than than Kaliko. On the speed meter he lands right between Kaliko and Bone Thugs. So he's not singing but he also pronounces his words.

Lyrically Kadesh has never been a slouch. This project was something different and more personal. He still manages to weave pop culture references into tracks but completely avoids them on some tracks. There are a few tracks with an abundance of pop culture references but for the most part they're sporadic. There's a track called "Over 9000" and any anime fan would expect this track to be full of anime references but there's actually very few. Maybe 4 at most.

While none of the tracks sound the same they all maintain a dark vibe. The theme of being broke makes it a dark album in places so the dark instrumentals fit well. If you're looking for an upbeat project this isn't the one you're going to want. Things don't start to speed up until "Like Woah" which is track ten but slows down immediately after.

The album does have a few issues with flow. Switching back and forth between fast and slow instrumentals at times causes some problems. Kadesh tells the story of how he became interested in making music, being a  broke college student and now chasing his masters. All of this is great but it's not necessarily in chronological order.

My favorite track is without doubt "Hungry." Kadesh brings a dope verse without doubt. I've never heard of A2z before but he still dropped one of the best verses on the album. Hungry is track where the guest comes in with the intention of murdering the artist on his track. But, the artist refuses to let that happen and brings some heat as well. Remember how Jay Z had "Renegade" and was doing his best to hold off Eminem? That's what "Hungry" is. The tracks also features an old church organ on the instrumental going off. That's the only way I can describe it. It's like when you're at church and the piano player gets caught in the moment and just lets loose. That organ is just awesome. It's a dope track in every aspect and has no flaws. If you only listen to one track let it be this one.
  • Lyricism-8
  • Flow-9
  • Production-9
  • Theme- 8
  • Replayability- 9
  • Individuality- 10
Final score is an 8.8/10 Individuality is the highest score because Kadesh really opens up on this album and shows himself as a person and not just another rapper. The flow is nice but Kadesh could work on his breath control a little. It definitely deserves a few plays.

You can find Kadesh Flow on YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud and KadeshFlow.com



You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He's also playing Pokemon Liquid Crystal on YouTube



Darrell S.

Hey, I write stuff, a lot of different stuff, that's all.

1 Comments

  1. This album deserves that rating. And the rap from A2z was great as well

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