KiNGPiN
| KiNGPiN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Monumental Studios | |||
| ⏳ Length | 56 minutes, 17 seconds | |||
| Language | English | |||
| 🏷️ Label | Monumental Records | |||
| 🤑 Producer | Krafty | |||
| Krafty chronology | ||||
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Buy this album KiNGPiN or listen to it on amazon
Background[edit]
Kingpin (stylized as KiNGPiN) is the fifth studio album by British rapper and producer Krafty, released by Monumental Records.
The album was originally due to be released in 2020, however due to managing other artists through his label Monumental Records, it was pushed back. The album was almost released in December 2020 as a surprise release, however this was then again pushed back due to a conflict of interests with artists on Monumental. The artists were subsequently dropped from the label which then delayed the album release.
After a number of issues in his personal life, Krafty then stated on his social media pages that he will be releasing Kingpin and Artificial Nature together on the same day and then disappearing from social media until further notice.
Composition[edit]
All songs on Kingpin were written, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Krafty at Monumental Studios in Kent, England. With the exception of some sample snippets, every song was composed by Krafty in Logic Pro X and Maschine. The intro sees the return of Krafty's manager, Norman, who is heard complaining that Krafty will miss the shows on his tour. In the background, you can hear a heart monitor which sets the scene that continues on from the previous album outro from Show Must Go On where Krafty collapses in the bar after a gig.
The album also contains a skit from the hating fan that can be heard on Not For Resale. The skit is sandwiched in between Headstrong, a song about haters, and Experts, a song about people who think they have the answer on how to become successful.
On the later half of the album, there are interludes which have no lyrics. One of these interludes, Fuckboys, is layered with a snippet of a girl talking about what kind of man she likes. The skit then transitions into Be A Man, a song about how Krafty feels that he has struggled to live up to being a man in the eyes of his father and ex-girlfriend.
Recording[edit]
During the recording of Show Must Go On, Krafty decided that he wanted to focus more on his own music production. This idea dates as far back as 2016 when he invested in a midi keyboard to pursue some original production for live shows. It wasn't until 2017 and 2018, when he really started to focus on consistently making beats using Logic Pro X, that he came up with the idea of an album consisting of only his own production. Other than executive producing his albums, and the exception of a song here or there, most of Krafty's albums had consisted of music composition by other producers. The first album with his own music production was 2013's Not For Resale, on which Krafty produced the song Feelin' High.
Recording for KiNGPiN began during 2019. The earliest of these songs being Don't Mourn Me, Appreciate, as well as production for the song Reset which was actually composed in 2018. Mic B recorded his verse for OAP's in 2019 and K-Saulz recorded his verse for Climbin' Treez in 2020. Much of the songs were written spontaneously in the studio, as opposed to Krafty's usual writing style in which a hook is laid down and then taken around with him during the week to gather ideas for the verses. Due to the nature of this new spontaneous writing style, there is a lot of raw and blunt lyrics including lyrical jabs at family members, ex-girlfriends and other people in his personal life.
During the recording, Krafty moved from three different studios in Folkestone. In one of these studios, a hard drive which held four terabytes of Krafty's music was damaged and malfunctioned. It housed twenty years worth of work including music videos, freestyles, unreleased songs and albums, photographs and other video files. This event inspired the single Had Enough which was recorded the day after. It also spawned the music video which sees Krafty sitting inside a computer with motherboards and circuits all around him with flashes of electricity. The video also contains archived footage from the rapper's career which was salvaged from other hard drives.
The first single recorded and released for KiNGPiN was Headstrong which was accompanied by a music video on YouTube in 2019.
Track listing[edit]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Reborn (Skit)" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 0:43 |
| 2. | "Reset" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 2:47 |
| 3. | "Ploddin' On" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 2:36 |
| 4. | "Losin' Control" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:05 |
| 5. | "Had Enough" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 2:39 |
| 6. | "Climbin' Treez" (featuring K-Saulz) | G. Oakes, K. Abassalty | Krafty | 2:54 |
| 7. | "Headstrong" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 4:03 |
| 8. | "Get In The Bin (Skit)" | G. Oakes, L. Jones | Krafty | 0:58 |
| 9. | "Experts" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:21 |
| 10. | "OAP's" (featuring Mic B) | G. Oakes, M. Bailey | Krafty | 3:05 |
| 11. | "Navigate" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:08 |
| 12. | "Day Job View" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 4:14 |
| 13. | "Interlude" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 0:43 |
| 14. | "Mumma Said.." | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:22 |
| 15. | "Fuckboys (Skit)" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 0:37 |
| 16. | "Be A Man (Don't Cry)" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:25 |
| 17. | "Smile For Me" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:40 |
| 18. | "Harbour" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:15 |
| 19. | "Appreciate" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 3:19 |
| 20. | "Don't Mourn Me" | G. Oakes | Krafty | 4:23 |
| Total length: | 56:17 | |||
