Kil Ripkin – The Quickening Vol. 1

Artist: Kil Ripkin

Album: The Quickening Vol. 1

Source: Kevin Nottingham

Tracklisting:

1. Intro
2. I Like to Mention
3. We Just Begun
4. Kil Season (ft. Ike Turner)
5. Strong
6. Laid Back
7. The Flesh
8. Win Your Love
9. Universal Mind Bank
10. Live From The Podium
11. Sounds Of Freed (ft. Charles Herron)
12. Special Appearance
13. Currency
14. Talk To Me
15. Kitty
16. In The Night
17. Everything’s Changed
18. Spit That Shit
19. Quit (ft. Joe Grizzly)

Notes:

When you think of smooth emcees, you should think Kil Ripkin.  The flow is mellow and poignant at the same time.   It is not lackadaisical.  Actually, quite to contrary he flows with purpose on many different subjects.  It just sounds like it comes so easy to him.  He is more effortless than anything else.  I first got up on Kil Ripkin earlier this year.  I heard a single and made it a point to remember the name.  So when I saw this available this week, I did not hesitate to download.

The Quickening Vol.1 is nothing short of incredible.  It wakes the social conscious among the listener.  So many great songs that I thought I would mention just a few.  Strong for instance gets the head nodding and the neurons firing.  Kil Ripkin addresses the need for us all to have ‘courage under fire’ as it were.  Things are not going to get handed to you on a silver plate.   You will run into obstacles.  You must overcome these obstacles to achieve things in this life.  Kil Ripkin sounds like the kind of man who pulls himself up by the boot straps and just goes to war on this one. It’s just that simple.

On the next track, Laid Back, Kil Ripkin abuses a chill beat, and gives you a vantage into his easy going demeanor.   He talks about balancing his “blessings with his short comings“.  He takes things seriously but also takes them in stride.  He doesn’t let life overwhelm him.  He just handles his business as it comes.  He gives you genuine perspective as to how  he lives.    Kil Ripkin has that keen self-awareness that few people have, and fewer emcees address.

“Being Broke is a state of mind which leads to a way of life…” is just one of the dope lines in the short cut entitled, Currency.  That line really resonates with me.   It sounds so simple but when set to music and a rhyme scheme it  hits you all that much harder.   The cut talks about the ills of money and the industry that has control over it.  There is serious science being dropped on this track and I can only hope that you are paying attention.,

Kil Ripkin is one of the doper social and politically conscious emcees in the game. He is embodiment of empowerment and is the perfect example of what happens when dope mic skills and great content collide in music.  Definitely peep this!