Kovei – VALUE (2021)
The past affects how we interact with the present and view the future. This is something that Kovei understands and has merged with jazz and trap for his single ‘VALUE’. Drawing on 60s jazz, he brings a modern edge with trap to create a protest song that walks the path of his own journey through life. Through this journey, he explores finding your own worth in the present world while building on the foundation created by the past.
While the fusion of retro jazz and modern trap is not something most would consider, Kovei is able to execute it with precision. This precision comes from the honing of his skills which started after high school when he realised the exact type of music he wanted to make to bring this message to listeners. Mixing hip-hop, jazz and his own culture’s music, he unleashes messages of hope, unity and growth.
‘VALUE’ hits you with the trap tones from the first second to get you bouncing to the sound. There is an electronic hip-hop feeling to the opening tones of the melody. Sliding through the background is an ethereal tone that tickles the back of your brain. As the single progresses, you hear more of the jazz tones making their way into the soundscape before bouncing into the trap and hip-hop of the chorus. There is a really interesting movement to the music that drones at times before punching trap beats and sliding into a light sprinkle of retro jazz. The combination is rather intense and brings a new life to jazz-trap.
As you bounce and slide to the jazz-trap melody, Kovei’s vocals push at the world from the first moment. Through the opening vocal line, he melodically brings an exploration of your value and worth within the world. This flows into a punchy hip-hop rap that brings the protest vibes to the track as he hits out at the world and how history is negatively affecting the view of other people. There is a very important message in the track that punches through your chest and makes you want to shout out with Kovei.
Kovei merges trap and jazz for a wonderfully punchy sound as he builds a protest of the present on a foundation of the past in ‘VALUE’. The music has a bounce to it that is all hip-hop and trap that slide into light retro jazz tones. Kovei’s vocals hit out at the modern world while exploring the value we each have.
