Kojey Radical
When: 2nd November 2022
Location: SWG3
Kojey Radical the rapper, poet, visual artist, and fashion entrepreneur is back. Coming to Glasgow’s SWG3 on 2nd November 2022.
To coincide with the release of his debut LP Reason To Smile. The rapper and creative polymath Kojey Radical has announced two headline shows at Manchester’s Albert Hall on 06 April. As well as the O2 Academy Brixton, London on 07 April 2022.
Born Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah in 1993 in Hoxton, East London. Radical’s formative years were soundtracked by the likes of Kano, Jamie T and Andre 3000. Whilst finding inspiration in the untamed creativity of Kaws and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Indeed, it was the visual arts that first enticed him, finding escape in his collection of comic books and anime; his moniker is in fact taken from a comic book superhero he designed himself as a youngster.
It was at the London College of Fashion, where he studied illustration and creative direction, that Radical’s interest in poetry and lyricism began to take over. Inspired after seeing Suli Breaks and other spoken word artists perform to hand in a musical project as his end of year assessment. But to try to separate these forms of expression is perhaps too crude; in a 2018 interview with SVGE Magazine, Radical admits: “I always understood art to be a very fluid thing. For me it was never ‘either this or that’”.
The end-of-year assignment turned out to be Radical’s first EP, Dead Daisy: Opium. Released in 2014 and produced alongside the likes of fellow Londoners Jay Prince and Mic-Lo The Dreamer. Though far more lo-fi than his later recordings. Tracks such as ‘Preacher Reacher’ showed the scope and vision of his musical aims. In 2016 Radical released the EP 23Winter. It was inspired by his father, who acts as a focal point of its narrative while allowing the rapper to develop his own worldview.
His next EP
Radical’s father returned on his next EP a year later, In God’s Body. Which saw the now hotly-tipped young artist continue to develop his niche with both smooth cuts (‘Icarus’) and dense and hard-hitting numbers (‘After Winter’). Fans of the 2020 hit show This May Destroy You will recognise the voice of Michaela Coel on ‘Super Human’.
Above all, the release further revealed his unique vocal style that, as if possessed, seems at once in firm grasp of the flow and yet also entirely at the mercy of the song that surrounds it.
By far his most accessible release, with a particularly sultry and summery G-funk twist. 2019’s Cashmere Tears broke a difficult spell and dealt candidly with Radical’s own experience with mental health. On the tenacious ‘Can’t Go Back’, he admits: “You say you stressed, man, I was stressed too / You say you next, man, I was next too / I know the roads that you said yes to / Deep in depression, I was dead too.” Rather than wallow in sadness, the release had a profound and empowering effect that is clearly shared amongst his crowds at festivals and live shows. The surreal, if not spooky, video for ‘20/20’, directed by Charlie de Placio, was nominated for Video Of The Year at the 2020 Mobo Awards.
2021 saw the artist release a string of singles, ‘War Outside’ and ‘Gangsta’. Which will both feature on his debut studio album Reason To Smile, which is set for release in April 2022.
