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Kansas City Hip Hop

Spotlight Feature: all is fleeting but the hype around Current’s sophomore alt-hip hop album, It’s Just Temporary

https://soundcloud.com/currentmusicofficial/sets/its-just-temporary/s-FsgdWvHAbYl?si=4f8a937f72344af8969aafaaf7d9dca1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Here to remind us that all is fleeting is Kansas City’s hottest hip hop act, Current, with his 2022 sophomore album, It’s Just Temporary. If there was ever a point in our history that we needed that affirmation, it is now.

With the candid and epiphanous spoken-word pieces in between the mindfully lyrical lo-fi trap tracks, Current makes it all too easy to get on a level with him and his polished craft that always cuts close to the bone with the lyrics and hooks.

Even though it is an unskippable vibe of a release, the standout tracks include the stormer of a trap track, Like Me, the trippy, glitchy and angsty hit, Glow Up, and the ethereal dream-like closing single, Dreams / Demons. The concluding single is slick with delirium in the first half before Current breaks into urgent howls, depicting how we all feel from time to time while struggling for an outlet. In the second half, Current’s dynamic and primal expression makes the resonance hit infinitely harder for anyone that can sympathise with insidious racing thoughts that trigger when your head hits the pillow.

In his own words, here is what It’s Just Temporary encompasses:

“It’s Just Temporary is a project that tells a story, my story. Over the past six years, I have experienced positives and negatives; there are some days I can’t believe I am where I am. What I learned from all these experiences is that everything is temporary. I learned how to take lessons from the bad times and cherish the good. This is what I convey through my album. That there is no time not to do what you love, no time to give energy to what does not give back to you because everything is temporary.

The first half of the album shows themes of anger and resentment. There are songs filled with ego and frustration. It takes a turn through the last half, where I am focused on the depression and anxiety that I have experienced. The interludes include my thought process towards these emotions. As an artist, I always want to be vulnerable and show who I am in my art.”

It’s Just Temporary will officially release on March 4th. Check out the independently produced LP for yourselves via SoundCloud or Spotify. Connect with Current via Instagram and TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Current shows us the meaning of conviction in his latest alt-hip hop single Under Pressure featuring STBtheDon

For his latest emotional firestorm of a release, Under Pressure, the breaking rapper, singer, producer and DJ, Current teamed up with the equally as luminary artist, STBtheDon. The Birmingham, Alabama-born, Kansas City-based artist has spent the last eight years fine-tuning his authentic sonic signature that includes elements of Lo-Fi, hip hop, electronica and RnB – and it certainly shows in Under Pressure.

For new fans, Under Pressure, is the perfect introduction to Current’s experimental production style. The track explores the pressure we feel from people’s expectations. The conviction in the track is the ultimate proof that pressure is even harder to bear when the expectation is for us to fail. For anyone who knows how exhausting yet vindicating it is to succeed despite condescending cynicism, there’s almost an infinite amount of resonance. Lyrically, each verse hits harder than the last. By the outro, you won’t fail to be blown away by the full-frontal emotion.

Under Pressure was released on January 21st, 2022; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast