KAMI • Just Like The Movies
We kicked off our February by touching base with SaveMoney rapper KAMI who, after a lengthy solo hiatus, spoke about the process of crafting his latest opus, Just Like The Movies, which hit the streets Friday morning after a long-awaited teasing.
KAMI, who emerged over the course of the last year as his latest iteration after coming up under Kami De Chukwu and as part of the duo Leather Corduroys alongside Joey Purp, arrives here with a fully-realized sound and strategy that at once stand outside the base that most have come to expect from Chicago urban artists while also staying within the lane that has vaulted the loosely-affiliated members of the collective to the forefront of several competing genres. On this one, KAMI cultivated a sound that pulls from several generations of music local and not to create a final product that is both lyrically satisfying and experimental with a dance-driven production backing. That sound came about from the confluence of his own ideas and those of close collaborator Knox Fortune, who handles the majority of the duties on this one and serves as the steadying presence between KAMI's varied appearances.
Just Like The Movies is a tightly constructed coming out party for rising stars KAMI and Knox that offers a breadth of fresh sounds, highlighting the divergence of form coming to define the Chicago music scene. In a city that is continuously blurring the lines around genre, this album fits right in as a well thought out paring of ghetto anthems, tear-driven ballads, and club-ready synth beats. Coming in at about 1 hour in length, the album never feels stale and continues moving through the different scenes fluidly. There’s a certain kind of audacity to a project like this because of the difficulty involved in fusing styles and highlighting the individual talents of the musicians involved.
KAMI and Knox Fortune play off of each other wonderfully. Knox provides a solid, diverse structure of songs that clearly push KAMI into different, perhaps uncharted, territory. KAMI remains strongly in his wheelhouse throughout though, coming back to the anchoring sounds that propelled projects like Leather Corduroys to public acclaim while taking risks and exploring his vocal talent. There’s no underselling how much KAMI shines here, and it’s great to see the rest of SAVEMONEY supporting with strong verses on a limited number of tracks. If moving imagery is what they’re trying to provoke, you’ll make stops at Grease, The CREAM video, Thriller, and Do The Right Thing. It’s a full sonic experience that is sure to be one of the best of the year.
Four years removed from KAMI's last full-length solo offering, it seems as though the wait was well worth it. Jump into Just Like The Movies above.