Review Summary: Khirey Akeem has never sounded more certain of who he is. His confidence is an outcry of explosive delivery and a lyrical onslaught of precise ambition and dedication. He never overstays his welcome and boy are we rewarded.
Khirey Akeem has had an interesting career to say the least. He always drops off the face of the earth and immediately returns with music. His social media presence is nowhere near as active and zany as it once was in the past. He once referred to himself as the “male Azealia Banks” which in a sense was true back in the past but now he’s less personal and open. Even though he doesn’t use social media as his personal diary anymore that doesn’t change the self reflections his displays in his music. Khirey Akeem has been gone which seems like forever but in actually it’s only been a year and some change. The pandemic definitely washed away any momentum he had rolling with his prior EP titled “The Youth is in You”. The question now is has Khirey amplified his skill set on this new album?
The short answer is yes. Cemetery of the Living is a lo-fi rap record with a raw, gritty, sample heavy feel. It’s surely a throwback to the older underground rap records of the early 1990’s and it didn’t disappoint in the slightest. The first track is a skit (Keezus) explaining what the title means, which will be a recurring theme throughout the duration of the album and it sets you up with the ambitiously fiery strong opener called “Song 1 (Welcome)”. Khirey shoots off intense bars kicking off his first verse with the sensational one linear, “I got a creed full assassins, my n***as keep attacking; I ain’t worried bout a n***a l, cause our fist keep on jabbing”. An instant quotable with the most divine delivery when spewed. No lines are wasted on this song and this is a surely a strong opening track. Every song is proceeded by a skit that leads into the next song (with every song on this project being entitled Song whatever & skit whatever), which gets you more on the edge of your seat to see what’s about to happen next. The sequencing is another beautiful marker upon this album. It’s so precisely sequenced. Which in terms leads to “Song 2 (Ballin’) and this is by far the strongest track in Khirey’s discography.
It is his strongest track due to the fact you have an extremely catchy chorus (Cruising through the city till a n***a get that whiplash), incredible bar structure and the run of this track is sheer perfection. Actually come to think of it the run time on all these tracks are just remarkable. It never overstays its welcome on this straight to the point project. It’s an absolute ear worm with the confidence in Khirey’s tone and the smoothness in his vocal takes. I think a thing to be stated about Khirey’s improvement is that he now sounds sure of himself. More sure of himself than he’s ever sounded on anything he’s ever released. It finally seems as though his vision has been realized through these tracks. An interesting thing about “Skit 3 (Veriety & Flyy) is that the latter is actually a feature on a song coming up later in the project. But the more absorbing thing is what Flyy says about the title. He states that it’s, “Hell on earth.” And as you run through the project with each lyric on this album being more violent than the line proceeding it, it comes to serve as maybe that is the theme of this album. We are living in hell. That was the take I got but then another sure fire song comes on and that being my personal favorite “Song 3 (Sneaky).
The song is the most upbeat song of all tracks up until this point. Khirey’s energy is screaming trough the track from the minute those haunting synths sneak through. Right after that the petrifying pianos soar through adding to this unearthly feel throughout this extra special project. It’s chilling, it’s sinister, it’s the exact production someone with the voice that Khirey has should be on. The production on this project is marvelous also. This project is so pinpoint accurate and in your face from the very first skit. “Skit 4 (Matty Ice!)” seems more like a poetic take on what the title means which then leads to the dejected “Song 4 (Memories feat. Veriety) with astonishing verses from both parties. Both performances on the track should be applauded for how in sync the two are together. Veriety verse is down tempo and laid back as he calmly reflects on the troubled thoughts of past whereas Khirey’s is energetic and filled with despair as he also throws back to his hardships. Veriety had an endless array of quotables. Khirey’s verse was intensified with tremendous wordplay. It’s a highlight for sure but almost every song is a highlight on this project
The album takes its darkest turn when “Skit 5 (Tre the King)” delivers a magnificent spoken word piece that leads into the album closer and what can I say, it’s a gorgeous closer. Song 5 (Afterlife) is the cherry on the top. It’s not the most lyrical and it’s not the best song but for the outro it summarizes up this project to a tee. Those haunting pianos shoot through and you almost feel terrified to a sense but once the drums shoot Khirey’s right on top with an excellent one verse closer. He details his paranoia about dying and continuing to live in the life of sin. His anxiety’s are in full display as each bar intensifies and gives more clarity to what actually is the “Cemetery of the Living”. As I stated prior the album is filled with bangers but it’s something about Memories & Afterlife that close this album out perfectly. This is an remarkable lo-fi record. The sequencing Is probably the best part of this project. Or maybe it’s the run time? Who knows and who cares all I do know is that this project will go down in history as one of the best lo-fi records to ever grace the universe. Is it a classic? Only time will tell but this is the potential everyone has seen In Khirey. His debut album aged awfully because it was a trend chasing album (As I’m regretful for giving such a high rating to it back then). His classic EP “asshole.” was Khirey at his most vulnerable which is what we’ve come to love of Khirey. The thing about “The Youth is In You.” Is that yes it’s good but it wasn’t good enough. Cemetery of the Living is just it. He found his niche. He found his sound. It’ll be quite interesting to see where he goes next. Khirey Akeem has always been on my radar and it’s been a while since I’ve been rewarded listening to an entire project from him but this was more than a reward, it was a satisfaction met and fulfilled. I’m glad I listened to this near flawless album but I’m willing to bet if this gets in the ears of the right people it will be championed as the classic I think it’ll be.
