Story

Patrick Kagaba, better known as Kamlesh (http://www.facebook.com/kamlesh.kagaba ), is a Kitale native who ministers through hiphop music & spoken word/poetry. His flow and lyrics have quite an appeal & are enlightening in their vision. It's this unique vision that led Astar (https://twitter.com/RealAstar ) to, at one time, comment that he (Kamlesh) like Juliani (http://twitter.com/JulianiKenya ) has “third-eye” vision. This is to say they have a way of seeing the extraordinary from what many see as ordinary.

Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ), not too long ago, released his debut album “IN DEPENDENCE”, a project that is in a style he calls “kizunguzeng'” - a fusion of sheng' and English.

The Album Track Listing:
1. Changing The World featuring MC Dice
2. Mapangashua
3. Naenda All Out featuring Michelle
4. Prayer (Interlude)
5. Issues Kibao featuring MC Mhubiri & Gaza
6. Songa Mbele featuring Span One
7. Subira featuring Anto
8. Expose (Interlude) by Xpo
9. Three In One
10. My Soul
11. Washa Taa featuring J.U.D.G.E
12. Father Wound
13. It's Ok featuring Anto
14. Fisher Of Men featuring Anto

IN DEPENDENCE has what you may call grimy hiphop, Spoken Word, Neo-soul, Jazz and bounce. The project sees Kamlesh enlist the help of 2 great male vocalists or singers in Gaza (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mchizi-Gaza/94225930858?sk=info ) in the song “Issues Kibao” and Antoneosoul (http://twitter.com/antoneosoul ) in 3 different songs: “Subira”, “It's Ok” and “Fisher Of Men”. Gaza (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mchizi-Gaza/94225930858?sk=info ) and Antoneosoul (http://twitter.com/antoneosoul ) definitely add flavor to the project.

“Changing The World” featuring rapper & singer MC Dice on the chorus opens the project with quite some energy. And to keep the energy going, Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) follows it up with “Mapangashua” - a song on a bounce track. Still not sure what Mapangashua is but you will bounce to this.

In “My Soul” Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) brings an example of classic hip hop – boom bap beat and sampling. A definite gem for Hip hop lovers. Talking of lovers, Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) goes all lovey dovey on “Three In One” where he talks of his better half. With lines such as these;

Naku-trust kuliko vile soldier hu-trust his gun Me and you, we're not two we are one You're my Proverbs 31 Ka love ni light we ndio sun!

There's no doubt the brother is in love.

Michelle (http://twitter.com/michellemartins ) comes in in the song “Naenda All Out” and delivers her unmistakable flow. Michelle (http://twitter.com/michellemartins ) is always a definite plus in any song or project! You have to love the track to this song too.

Another notable feature is J.U.D.G.E. in “Washa Taa”. Before even getting to J.U.D.G.E, the track used here is straight Hip Hop – for those that are loyal Hip Hop fans, would feel an element of the American West Coast hip hop on the the track. Whoever made that track deserves recognition. That said, J.U.D.G.E definitely outshone Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) on this track.

“Songa Mbele” featuring Span One has a calming relaxing acoustic feel that you can't miss. There are three Spoken Word pieces: “Expose” done by X-po (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=614761680 ), “Prayer” & “Father Wound” both by Kamlesh. “Father Wound” is a piece that sounds so heartfelt and you can't help but feel the emotion behind it – that's if you understand Swahili.

KIFALME ALBUM RATING:

CONTENT = 7.5
Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) is more of a freestyle artist and it's no surprise that though he's rich in content, what to say, you can't quite put the content in a package. He seems to move from one thing to the other without a moment's notice.

THEME = 7
The message of IN DEPENDENCE (as put out by Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) himself) is “Our independence comes from our dependence on God!” You don't quite get this coming to the fore as you would expect. There's no song titled “In Dependence” in the album which is a plus, a break from the norm. We all know how albums are these days; the album title is most likely the title of one song in the album. Not this one, thankfully.

SKILL = 9
You can not dispute that Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) is gifted and talented. His lyricism and “third-eye” vision – as Astar (https://twitter.com/RealAstar ) put it – allows him to paint vivid pictures of what he wants to say thus making his delivery effective and very captivating.

He, however, really sounds like Juliani (http://twitter.com/JulianiKenya ) yet subtly different. If they, Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) & Juliani (http://twitter.com/JulianiKenya ) work together and maybe add to the mix Eko Dydda (https://twitter.com/ekodydda ), you are bound to get lyricism at it's best.

PRODUCTION = 8
One thing that has to be noted are the tracks. The tracks used in this album are really quite impressive. The production of the album was done by a couple of production houses including N.Y.N.P and Fullhouse Music Kenya who did a commendable job though there's a certain je ne sais quoi that's missing and can definitely be improved.

VERDICT
This project is reminiscent of Juliani's (http://twitter.com/JulianiKenya ) debut “Mtaa Mentality” - you can tell there's more and better coming both in delivery and production, a fact we've all seen in Juliani's (http://twitter.com/JulianiKenya ) sophomore album “Pulpit Kwa Street”.

Kamlesh (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb ) is definitely headed to greater things and this album is a great start. Should you get this album? Yes! Definitely. It the genesis of another great artist.

FIND KAMLESH ONLINE:
FACEBOOK: Kamlesh Kagaba (http://www.facebook.com/kamlesh.kagaba )
TWITTER: @Kamleshkgb (http://twitter.com/Kamleshkgb )
REVERBNATION: Kamlesh Conscious (http://www.reverbnation.com/kamleshconscious )