Kensaye is a Hip-Hop/Soul Producer from the U.K. He is currently working with two groups - 9dots and K.I Project aswell as Archa, Mensa and Speech Debelle. His music has been played on Westside Radio and Mystic FM, has featured in Hip Hop Connection Magazine, The Mercedes-Benz Mix Tape 27 and BET awards UK Cypher.
He's taken the time out from the above mentioned projects to bring us 'Introspective,' a 25 track, head first introduction to the inimitable style that defines Kensaye. There's a wealth of variety for the listener, from the soulful vocals and synth stabs of "What Can I Do" to "Send You An Invite" which to my ears is reminiscent of Thriller era Michael Jackson.
One thing that stood out with all the tracks was the sheer energy that every single beat exudes. It's pretty much impossible to listen to this beat cd without getting hyped. The instrumentation is done very well, all synth sounds and samples used merge victoriously creating modern, monstrous anthems. The mix is very clean resulting in the kicks bumpin nice and firm but crisp and on tracks like "On The Couch" the percussion is panned just right creating an excellent sense of space in the headphones. To me, the mix is extremely important on instrumental projects as there's no lyrics or vocals to distract the listener - every kick, snare, hat, bongo, cymbal, synth, bass and sample has to be knockin just right or personally I switch off. Maybe not intentionally but subconsciously it's difficult to pay attention when someone has clearly not put 100% into their craft. This was completely the opposite with Kensaye - the perfect arrangement and mix had me listening more intenently than ever and the little vocal snippets of artists like Jay-Z, Eminem and Busta Rhymes had the same effect. One thing I ALWAYS criticise with BeatTapes is the length of the beats because often I find producers get too over indulgent and put out cd's 30 tracks deep with each track clocking it at well over 2 minutes but Kensaye has stuck to my preferred method of keeping each track short, sweet and to the point. The vocal samples in "I Want To Say" come in at the perfect points of the beat which is very nice. Consisting of a nice gated rising and falling synth, some keys and vocals in the background and simplistic drums. It's at this point I usually pick my favourite but i honestly can't! I think it's 'Paranoid'...then again, could be 'My Provider' or "Balance" which is very minimalistic but has such a great atmosphere to it - very Dilla sounding. Lose You is another favourite. Some rolling guitar strumming, sparse vocals and some beautiful piano playing the drops at the perfect moment all convolute effortlessly. "All About The Moon" is a favourite too - I did not expect that horn to come in!
I was extremely impressed by every single track on this and if I remember correctly I think Kensaye said this was his 1st Beat CD. If so you can triple my level of Impressed! A beat CD is a surprisingly difficult thing to put together. Most producers and beatmakers by nature are very particular, have a great attention to detail and would all describe themselves as perfectionists. If these are all your personality traits and you are trying to put together seamingly unrelated instrumentals to create something you can call a finished product, a 'whole' then already it becomes something very difficult and to pull it off as well, as professionally and as damn fuckin' heavy as Kensaye has here is a massive achievement in my eyes.
I'm sure I don't need to say much more?
Get it for FREE HERE where you'll find links to download it from RapidShare, MegaUpload and DepositFiles.
You can catch Kensaye on Twitter HERE
Or on MySpace HERE
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