Review Summary: I ain’t tryna tell anybody how to live
KSI wants to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, he’s KSI, and that in itself is a problem. A career built off high-pitched, high-volume YouTube entertainment left him trapped in the grasp of a highly toxic audience, fans and critics alike. So, off the heels of an unexpected four-month sabbatical, the
Space EP is an attempt to push a more ambitious and more mature persona for KSI. It’s not a successful attempt, mind you, but it’s the thought that matters.
There’s supposed to be a loose concept surrounding
Space akin to a therapy session, where KSI analyses the effect of his online presence – specifically the negative aspects of it – on his personal growth. Unfortunately, this is only defined by repetitive spoken word intros, excessively vague and lacking a definitive focal point. Moreover, the EP lacks consistency in its concept. Even if KSI appears to crib an early-Drake style of performance on closer “Transforming”, its introspective musings are easily the highlight of his career. It makes it all the more disappointing that this aspect appears to have been overhyped upon release. Instead, we get KSI’s typical reference-laden shtick dominating tracks like “64 Impala”, or lines like “I don’t give a *** about your social status/I don’t give a ***,
put it up your anus” from “IDGAF.” From bottle flipping to Leeroy Jenkins to Nicole Arbour’s domestic abuse scandal on YouTube, everything serves as a simile for KSI’s success, or how he’s coming at you like X because of Y. It’s tone-deaf, and it’s not even done with a shred of irony or self-awareness. The past and present KSI are quite literally feuding and feeding the tonal shifts throughout the EP, and while it fits thematically, doesn’t it defeat the purpose of the whole undertaking? More importantly, it’s just not
fun to listen to.
Musically,
Space is a collection of bass-heavy grime beats for soccer mom stereo systems. Mix-wise, that’s not an insult; where old material prioritised performers over production, here the music gets the breathing room it deserves. It’s a step up from the weightless riffs of
Keep Up or the pop-leaning
Jump Around, yet it’s marred by KSI’s continued willingness to take things slow. The standout track, “Creature,” stands out precisely
because of its upbeat tempo, with the furious pounding of drums augmenting KSI’s flow before the club-standard chorus rears its head. Elsewhere, the tepid “Tommy Gun”, too short and too far within KSI’s comfort zone of high-pitched synths, fires off more like a jammed water pistol. It’s unfortunate that the pace of the music brings KSI down; beyond having less time to acknowledge that
yes he did just use Lorde’s Royals in a metaphor in 2017, he just generally sounds better when he raps like, well, a tommy gun. Those looking for a melodic flow are not going to find it here. However, KSI’s acknowledgement of his limited range serves him well. The monotonous delivery occasionally sounds more like apathy than the anger he wants to portray in “Leave Me Alone”, but it’s consistent at least. Ultimately, the fact is
Space has all the stereotypical strengths and weaknesses that encompass grime. KSI has always been sincere about the type of music he enjoys making; the fact that it’s not particularly inventive is just a consequence of that.
To give KSI some credit, his insistence on going solo – avoiding the pitfalls of previous EPs having too many cooks in the kitchen – deserves applause, and he handles the spotlight decently. If anything,
Space shows that there is potential for the man to create a consistently good collection of tracks. Nonetheless, this is not that collection. KSI may have grown as a person in his time away, but his music hasn’t entirely followed suit, and it suffers.
