As much an R&B slow jam as it is a hip-hop ballad of the most direct and focused strain, there are a lot of ways you can break down the new single “Be in Love” by Kiron Rasheed, but to make things simple, let’s start with the track’s greatest attribute – its intoxicating harmonies. With a little help from Jay Cousins and Wallace Gary, Kiron delivers one of the more potently melodic singles I’ve heard from any rapper in the game this year, and it comes filtered through such a clean, crisp production quality that you’ve got to wonder – how much of this is man and how much is machine?
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Turn up the volume and inspect these grooves a little closer and you’re certain to appreciate just how untarnished a performance this really is with regards to its total lack of plasticity, and though I do think there’s a place in rap for experimentalism, there’s also something to be said about the straightforwardness an artist like this one can contribute to the genre’s big picture. “Be in Love” is as refreshing as a cool drink of water on a hot summer day, and I think other hip-hop and R&B critics are going to be saying the same this June.
Everything in this single begins and ends with the chorus harmonies, but I wouldn’t say the melodic underpinnings in the hook at all minimize the impact of the lyrics as they are on paper. There’s admittedly nothing black and white about the execution here – Jay Cousins and Gary Wallace are as good at alluding to emotional subtext with their singing as Kiron Rasheed is relating to listeners with his poeticisms, but when they combine against such a lusty rhythm, it’s hard to tell whether we’re discussing romantic fantasies or actually recounting past conquests.
In the end, this is an occasion on which it doesn’t really matter, as the lyrical strength isn’t drawn from influences, specific aesthetics, or even a literal theme (it’s all Kiron and his command over this entire arrangement). There’s as much of a Rick Ross element to “Be in Love” as there is Crack of Dawn or even The Brothers Johnson, and that’s a combination I don’t see many fans of melodic rap and R&B turning down.
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If this is Kiron Rasheed’s standard as a recording artist, I think it goes without saying that his underground days are certainly numbered. He’s got a personality that the dark end of the pop world can’t contain; he was born to take his charm to a brighter stage than the regional scenes he’s been working can afford him, and that’s what I get most out of his moxie in “Be in Love.” This is a ballad for the sake of balladry, and although artistically consistent with contemporary tastes in its genre, there’s not one component of its sound that feels recycled by any measurement. I’m very impressed by Kiron Rasheed, and if you’re as big into melodic hip-hop as I am, you will be as well.
Claire Uebelacker
The music of Kiron Rasheed has been heard all over the world in partnership with the radio plugging services offered by Musik and Film Radio Promotions Division. Learn more https://musikandfilm.com