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Kasien, 'BREATHE (SLOW IT DOWN)'

If you're not hip to U.K. born Nigerian-Jamaican artist Kasien, his latest EP, FOLLOW ME, will have you trying to keep up — track after track, bar after bar. His lyrical conviction is contagious, revitalizing the listener through a robust global soundscape. Kasien is the life coach we didn't know we needed, rapping, "See no limits like Bezos, like Musk, you know / I'm an Afrikan Rebel like Pa, you know / Don't give up, I don't care if I'm last / Got too much trauma in my past to fuss, you know."

Opening with a solitary bark, "BREATHE (SLOW IT DOWN)" feels like an anthem for 2023, a retribution for the time we've lost. The beat is kinesthetic, making the listener chase after each buzzing chord progression as the track swerves and pulses. It is a track for late night drives, high intensity workouts and absolute ragers. Kasien structures the industrial sounds that are the basis for hyper-pop in a rhythmic, Afrobeat-like tempo, intersecting UK drill with a Southern trap style to produce an original flow. But ironically the track is fleeting, its energy lasting not much more than a minute — barely enough time to breathe it all in

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Pilar Galvan
Pilar Galvan (she/her) is a reporter whose work focuses on the intersections of media and culture. She is passionate about film, music and sports. She recently graduated from Yale University where she double majored in anthropology, specializing in ethnomusicology, and art, concentrating in digital media. She previously worked in digital media at art institutions including MoMA PS1 in Queens, NY, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal.
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