King Khali - Chroma ORANGE (EP)
Before heading out on vacay in June, the highly anticipated release of King Khali’s EP “ChromaORANGE” surface with excitement from fans speed racing to DSPs to check out the two-piece project. Headlining the start of the month with the announcement and cover art for the project, many people, including ourselves, were holding out to hear the magnum opus of his colour series make way, and surely you know we weren’t disappointed. After gifting us the project, he even threw in a quick freestyle on the beach, showing how much the listeners mean before his pleasure; it’s something as a fan we shouldn’t take for granted; support and respect your favorite artists, and it pays off with surprises like that.
Donning the Longhorn jersey of “Vince Young” for the cover, Khali begins the project titled after the titular UT Hall of Famer where he’s starting to feel a similar treatment since arriving in Texas. Khali gets real personal on the record, preaching the good word of his trials & tribulations, his momma would’ve considered his career to take him on the path to be more religious, but instead, he founded faith in his rhymes to celebrate the wins with himself and his team. Khali doesn’t shy away from the boastful attitude his pen wields when comparing him to his opposition; he’s been through it all instead of fabricating tales like most of his peers in rap do. This rap shit didn’t come without sacrifice. While he wished for different outcomes to the routes he’s taken, he takes what has been served to improve, concluding his story by seeing his brother taking a path to fatherhood but still pulling up with support where it needs to be. Never having to flip the script to get shit done, this is the person he idolizes to be and has his back in anything that unfolds; closing it with the fact that there is more to the rapping with a feeling of deja vu that he’s lived and done this before. Deep track, but again we don’t expect anything less when it comes to Khali breaking through the normal conditions of rapping but instead involving subject matter that speaks to his story & dedication to the art of music, still being a dominant factor among the scene’s talent. The following record, “Car Confessions,” might be one of his most profound records to date, with Eval Music serving up blissful production for the empathic track of putting yourself in his shoes for a day to see just how much weight he takes on daily. You can ask anyone; the best way to vent out your problems, fears, or anger is those minutes or hours you have to yourself in the driver seat of your car. Khali confesses a lot in the record, many things people in his place want, the flowers he’s deserved instead of giving them when he’s long gone from the world. Being the savior that he ought to be when it came to the music, the voice of the people in the struggle, Khali calls these confession therapy which is only fitting for him to hear his roar cry out. His phone rings with other people’s problems, and he extends his ear out to them, but if the sides were switched, he would get the voicemail or just be hung up on. He’s not trying to be anyone but himself; if you can accept that, it would indeed mean the world, but if you can’t, then out of his life, you go. From his start to now, his passion for music is still there; many changes have happened, better positions for him, less negative energy, and the unfortunate loss he’s endure but the movement to make it has not left his sight. It’s only grown, and from that we get outstanding records like this; what a way to conclude his two-track EP. Not sure if this will see the end of him doing his color-named projects; he did announce a name change moving forward after this project, so there’s that to see, including him being featured on the upcoming Tree Team collaboration with Por Vida as well. Khali will always be in the limelight of the city’s scene just off the strength that his grind never stops, and his music continues to keep getting better and better.
As mentioned before, I don’t know what’s next for Khali on the solo scale; he’s working profusely with The Tree Team & appearing on features here & there. He could be enjoying life a little bit more right now where the music will come when it’s time. For now, I recommend you check out the latest EP here and share it around on all social media avenues.