Alternative hip hop producer and rapper King Lutendo wrote, produced and engineered the entirety of his latest project Vharunwa (the Tshivenda word for angels).
It is a highly meditative collection of tracks that chart Lutendo’s progress, the lessons that he has learnt from his past and, ultimately, the gratitude the artist has for the opportunities that have been afforded to him. The tracks are bass-heavy and range from mostly down-tempo to mid-tempo bops that are synonymous with SA house music. The result is a highly textural and varied alternative hip hop album.
King Lutendo has an effortless flow that mixes English, Tshivenda and vernac. This comes through the strongest of tracks such as “Love Gone Away”, the trap banger “Boat to Sail”, and the one-man cypher “Baggage Claim.”
And there’s a great dynamic to King Lutendo’s vocal delivery. It’s positively Kendrick-esque, the way that he applies multiple voices within a single track, even a single verse. This warrants repeated listening and makes the album a lot more interesting than many of Lutendo’s hip hop contemporaries. I cannot wait to hear what this artist does next.
Feature pic supplied by artist
