REVIEW: Victoria Kimani’s kingdom is almost here

 Album- Queen Victoria

Artiste- Victoria Kimani

Guest Appearances- Lynxxx, Banky W, Loose Kaynon, Pryse, Ada, Wyre, Akuse, Prezzo, AY, Ron Browz, Kyah Baby, Rukus, Shiiikane, Kimya Bamboo,

Producers- Kid Konnect, Chopstix, Drebeats, Ron Browz, Wayne, Drocc, White Nerd

Record Label- Chocolate City (2013)

In a bid to expand to conquer the African continent, Chocolate City opened shop in Kenya and signed its first non-Nigerian act Victoria Kimani. After a couple of singles, the East African pop artiste drops her new mixtape Queen Victoria which can be regarded as her first showing in the Nigerian market.

19 tracks long, Queen Victoria is a mixtape which features Victoria Kimani on both original beats and borrowed instrumentals. The collection starts with ‘Open Your Heart.’ Singing on DJ Sbu’s ‘Lengoma’ Victoria Kimani turns the instrumental into an emotional pop ballad. It’s a nice approach of flipping one of the hottest instrumentals from South African House within the last two years. The track also has a whiff of emo to it.

On ‘Forgive Them Father’ featuring Ada, Victoria Kimani borrows Foxy Brown’s 2001 single ‘Oh Yeah’ featuring Spragga Benz. The Indian singing is a nice feature on the whole set up of the track. ‘Do What You Do’ is a breezy summer pop song featuring Banky W who delivers a few rap bars that should jumpstart the discussion of his rumoured all rap mixtape once again.

Victoria Kimani goes the dancehall route on ‘Freaks’ which jacks French Montana’s song of the same name. ‘African Man’ featuring Lynxxx is a lusty crunchy pop song produced by Kid Konnect. It features a haunting oriental flute and a surprising element of Victoria Kimani singing Seyi Sodimu’s 1998 hit track ‘Love Me Jeje’ at the end.  The Choc City queen brushes off a lover who is asking her for money on the short but interesting ‘My Money’.

Kid Konnect produces a groovy haters’ anthem on ‘F.U.M.F’ featuring Loose Kaynon. The bearded Loopy Records MC spits ‘listen so hating is so last year/why you so mad cos my sweat shirt is cashmere’ on the track. The crown prince of auto-tune Ron Browz rears his head on ‘Touch Me’. The track has a theme of lust and has a knocking effect much to the delight of the listener. Victoria Kimani gets playful on ‘We like to Party’ which has the bassline as Lumidee’s 2007 ‘Never Leave You’.

Victoria Kimani tries her hands on Sean Tizzle’s ‘Sho Lee’ on ‘Get Wild’ featuring Shiiikane but the beat is too much for her. It would have been best of she left it alone. Tracks like ‘Own Zone’ and ‘Girlz’ are disposable tracks with too much sheen and not enough warmth. This is the major fault line of the project. There is too much gloss and not enough heart. Also Victoria Kimani’s over reliance on auto-tune can make the mixtape tiring.

However on ‘Heaven’ she changes the tone of the project. On the song she sings ‘I need your angel wings every single night…it’s something I can’t explain, your presence cures my pain.’  The latter end of the project follows suit as the artiste touches on more serious topics on tracks like ‘Africa I Love You’ and ‘Trayvon’.

Overall, Queen Victoria is a promising start from the pop artiste. She has the look and the vibe. All she needs is emotional depth.