The last time we’ve talked about Raushaus, they released their artist showcase last year. Those cuts showed a lot of potential in terms of style clashing and adopting the new styles of the western rap hemisphere. We chose to go inside the RausHaus, and looking inside those vibrant rooms we have a bunch of young lads making songs at the upper part of their bunk beds. The lads in question: Kennedy, a group of young up-and-comers. Recently, they’re on the uptrend in their circles for their newest mixtape titled “From The Top Bunk”.
Out in the street, they run around with free verses while basking in the sun, waiting for the day to pass as their breezy choruses echo past the light posts. Their frequent frolicking in the ‘Best Boyband Since One Direction’ block may be at their arm’s reach. However, Kennedy liberating demeanor in ‘From The Top Bunk’ may have worn out their own welcome. Template after template, Kennedy’s group dynamics are executed with impressive results but the afterthoughts linger to a replay of the Saturation trilogy after a first listen or two.
The lead single “m.i.a” is brimming with flows that are reminiscent in 99 Neighbor tracks and the nimblest verses before hitting the second half. Although, the singy-songy bridges aren’t on par with the skilled flows. The first two tracks, “s.y.m” and “tekken 6”, are nothing but style borrowing from one verse after the other.
With every detail in the production paying good homage to BH’s producer team, the shelf life of these store-bought copycats expose the group’s longevity. With these influences being worn on their sleeves like a tight jumpsuit, groups like Kennedy are disillusioned with the cursed chemistry in boybands today that are prone to being impermanent footprints of a current generation. Similar to how Westlife was to Backstreet Boys or how Greta Van Fleet is to Led Zeppelin. These influences come at a cost and their identity as a group is at stake. Kennedy makes little to no distinction in being a boyband in the 2020s. However, their cloning doesn’t distort their songcraft entirely. There’s actual merit behind the blue makeup, faux puberty, and youthful stills. Whilst replicating the structure of the aforementioned boyband, tracks like “espana” and “always” actually pack a couple punches in both their hook writing and bar spitting. The former showed the group’s actual skill in multisyllabic and flow practices while the latter naturally flows so well with the hook, even the guitar lines complement the singing.
Overall, ‘From the Top Bunk’ shows a lot of promise in the group. But that promise won’t be on a chokehold when the boys realize that they can be greater than their predecessors. This EP is a testament for their future releases, hopefully becoming forerunners of a generation that is about to be written in the midst of a lockdown.
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