King Khali - Chroma RED (EP)

When you got big Duvie in the cut alongside Khali, you know it’s about to be one of them ones, these two have given us so many gems throughout the years. Not that Khali hasn’t blessed us with great work with other producers, peep his work with Sage on “Serenity”, but his chemistry with Duvin has become an integral component to his sound. On the fiery opener, Duvin gives Khali plenty of “Leg Room” to “Rob Van Dam” kick the opps upside their heads. The record itself hearkens me back to that previous banger, it’s like that record but on steroids. You know when the beat comes in knocking this hard, Khali is about to be on his shit, that humility is out the window with a record like this & rightfully so, when you’re the king, people gonna wanna see if they can take the heir to the throne, in this case, that throne is this hospital bed but that’s merely to emphasize how sick these people make him. Off rip, he’s calling out these dudes who’d rather herald some pussy than build themselves up, the complete opposite of hustling if you ask him, that’s more like you setting yourself up to be swindled, could never be him. The beauty of him being an independent artist is that he’s free to be himself & himself is separate from a lot of these other cats who are honestly just taking up space in this game, he’s not in competition with anyone but himself, as he should be. Why do you think his music continues to get better with every release?

I have to point out that I actually got to unknowingly watched him perform this record & all I can say is, I can’t wait for him to continue performing it for the people cause the live rendition just ups the ante on the hype of the actual record. What a beautiful introduction to this man’s stage presence. Next we bleed into one of the most masterful two part records I’ve heard. Starting with “Know Better”, a song that Khali had previewed to us prior, Khali feels it’s time to invest in himself. The pitfall of building yourself up though is the envy of others who haven’t found a way to do the same for themselves. They want what he has, whether that be his finances, his skills or his pull with the ladies but he can’t blame them, if only they knew any better, they wouldn’t have tried to fake intimidate him in the 1st place. Khali fears no one, he dares them to step to him cause he can see right through their facade, the veneer alot of these dudes wear be thinner than their skin. He’s never been one to entertain any lies spread about him or to pocket watch & if anything, these cats should listen to the subtle game he’s spilling & really heed it before they wound up being the ones “Down Bad”.

Then we bleed into a little R&B Khali & man is he hitting those melodies gracefully. He’s blessed us with a few R&B numbers in the past, “Fantasy”, “Come Around”, the Keith Sweat flip with “I Know” but on “Chase”, he blows all those away with a record that’s not even 2 minutes long. It’s incredibly infectious & a real heartstring puller & potential snipper. I think we’ve all been here, chasing someone who no longer wants us. It’s a tiresome thing to do to yourself & Khali no longer insists on torturing himself as such. He’s fed up with whatever mind games she’s trying to play with him in order to keep him chasing an unattainable thing in her. What she needs to know is that the only thing he’s chasing is money & frankly, he don’t even be chasing that anymore, it just comes to him now, the law of attraction if you will. Not that it doesn’t sting a bit to let her go, there is obviously still some attraction or level of connection there but it’s very minimal at this point & seemingly just not worth the hassle. A nice little nostalgia tinged way to end this mini tour de force of Khali’s ever growing versatility as an artist, Duvin as well cause his production on here is an entirely different beast.