Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of January 24th-30th, 2016:
Allan Kingdom - Northern Lights
01. The Ride
02. The Forest (Intro)
03. Fables
04. Monkey See
05. Hypocrite
06. Northern Lights
07. Renovate
08. Believe
09. Disconnect
10. I FeelYa
11. Interruption
12. Go Fish
13. Outta Pocket
For those of you following along at home, this is the fourth time Allan Kingdom has made an appearance in my Album Of The Week column. I've written up his Talk To Strangers album, its follow-up Future Memoirs, and the collaborative album by The Stand4rd.
In my write up for Future Memoirs, I had this to say about Kingdom:
"He's still rapping over murky, keyboard heavy beats in a sing-song style that shares the same stage with Young Thug & Chance The Rapper. The major difference is that, where Young Thug is the extension of the Andre 3000/Trap world of his native Atlanta and Chance sings to find his own sunshine in Chicago's notoriously cold hip-hop scene, Kingdom brings a natural Minnesota style to his songs. He doesn't necessarily aim too high in his songs. Instead he sticks to the small things in life. He appreciates a good woman. He debates going back to school. He's concerned about the racial issues in his city while shouting it out at the same time. When it comes down to it, Kingdom's very much an everyman despite his age. He's hoping for the best while making sure that the worst doesn't come."
And then, this:
"Future Memoirs is a fine record considering it's the first album Kingdom's put out that came with any expectations. All things considered, it feels like a stepping stone. I don't know what Kingdom's got planned after this one, but I believe he's yet to make his big move."
If you didn't know, since Future Memoirs, Kingdom as featured prominently in Kanye West's hit single "All Day." In hindsight it's funny that I was concerned with whether or not Kingdom was ready to cope with the expectations of a City Pages write-up. Not only was he ready, but with Northern Ligths, he proves that he's ready to deal with the white-hot spotlight that comes with a Kanye feature.
As if to confront these expectations head-on, Kingdom sings/raps "Ye told me drive slow, but ain't nobody say, 'homey, fly low...'" and that's exactly what Kingdom does throughout Northern Lights.
Northern Lights is, by a large margin, Kingdom's most mature album to date, which is not surprising considering he's still in his early 20's. The idealism of old jams like "I Should Be A Pusha" & "Observe" is still their, but he's developed a mean streak to act as the Yin to the young Yang. Early standout "Fables" walks the line between the two sides, imploring people not to "tell no fables," for two reasons. First, because nobody's buying the lies. Second, because you shouldn't be ashamed of your own story. It's a difficult line to walk but Kingdom & Chronixx toe it wonderfully.\
Kingdom's newfound maturity and fame have also brought out a new, sexual energy to his rhymes. Where women were rarely sexual objects on his previous albums, Kingdom makes no bones about the fact that he's enjoying the life his newfound fame has provided. Title track "Northern Lights" is the most overt example with a chorus of "I've been on a mission lately, this is fun to me, it's a hunt to me..."
That coin, however, also has its flip-side, and on tracks like "Renovate," Kingdom works to make his peace with the decisions he's made. Over a pulsing beat and an earworm of an auto-tuned hook he's taking issue with the people he's surrounded by as well as the changes in his life that have changed both his and their perspective. It may not sound like much, but it took Kanye West three albums to cover the emotional ground Kingdom hits in this song.
In both of my previous reviews I compared Kingdom to Young Thug & Chance The Rapper. In his own Minnesotan way, those comparisons still stand up. As all three have matured they've continued in their own regional traditions. Thug has become emboldened by his success and continued to get more & more strange (see: Andre 3000). Chance has taken his natural charisma and channeled it into the bigger all-things-to-everyone project Surf (see: Kanye West, Billy Corgan). Kingdom, for his part, has found the spotlight causing him to look inward and become even more self-analytical and detached (see: Prince, Paul Westerberg). Fortunately, that works out out in Kingdom's favor here. That narrowing of scope has caused Kingdom to scale back on the vocal quirks & production values. Kingdom and fellow producers Plain Pat and Jonathan Kaslow do far more with less than any of his previous albums. Whether this a new aesthetic going forward or a simple tearing down of Kingdom's sound to build up something new in its place is yet to be seen, but the version of Allan Kingdom we're getting right now is by far the most talented and most intriguing version yet.
If you'd like to check out Northern Lights for yourself, head over to Allan Kingdom's website for a free download.
For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page. Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.
