Tag Archives: Kovax

Kovax Takes You Through His “Komplex” Creativity (Album Review)

This is the 6th full-length album from Detroit emcee Kovax. Beginning to catch my interest when he opened up for the Last American Rock Stars at the release party for their MNE-backed self-titled debut, he then left me highly impressed with his previous effort Manifestor fully produced by Middle Finger Music co-founder Foul Mouth the following summer due to the eclectic range of sounds throughout from horrorcore to jazz rap & trap as well as the strong lyricism throughout. But as the 4 year anniversary of that previous body of work approaches in a couple months, Kovax is making a Komplex return.

“Posthumous” opens the album with a eerie trap anthem declaring to be back from the bottom whereas “Sights Set” takes the rap rock route thanks to Onry Ozzborn talking about taking all he needs with him to the target of his ambition. The title track has a chill boom bap approach to it admitting that he ain’t nothing like his brothers or cousins prior to “Isolation Tapes” blends some guitars, kicks & snares courtesy of DJ Los detailing his personal rigors of dealing with life during the 1st of 2 COVID lockdowns & all that came with it. 

Moving forward to “Zip Zoom”, we have Kovax over a more bassier instrumental telling him to give him anything that’ll get him fucked up just before “Aura Glow” brings it back to a more boom bap sound with some keyboard melodies woven in. “Super Like” however has a peppier groove to the beat bragging that he just had to get laid, but then “Old Fashioned Blood” with Sankofa finds the pair over a dusty Marv Won instrumental spitting that hardcore shit.

Marv eventually hops on the mic too on the dreary “Chet Steadman” comparing their flows to the Rookie of the Year character until longtime collaborators J Bone & Big Dude reunite throughout “Simpin’” by delivering a quirkily comedic ballad about lust. “Steve ‘54” however ends the album with a sample-based tribute to his father.

Manifestor is still my favorite album of Vax’s yet that doesn’t change the fact that Komplex is still a worthy follow-up looking into the Detroit emcee’s rapidly changing, explosive creativity as some of his best songs to date reveal themselves here. The production pulls from pop, boom bap, trap & rock focusing more on real life stories, punch lines, catchy hooks & double time cadances.

Score: 7/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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Kovax Returns with Marv Won-Produced “Steve 54’”

Detroit emcee Kovax offers a musical tribute to a colorful, loving, spirit & a personal reflection on grief & all that comes along with losing your best friend with the Marv Won-produced ”Steve 54’”.

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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The Michigan Misfits – “Who” Ft. Kovax

The Michigan Misfits tap in with Detroit emcee Kovax for the new banger “Who”.

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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Kovax – “Manifestor” (Album Review)

Kovax is a MC from Detroit, Michigan who’s been at it for quite a while now. I personally started noticing him when he opened up for LARS last year, but his set during the show left me impressed to see what he would do in the future. And that leads us to his 5th full-length album, in which he enlists Foul Mouth to produce it in it’s entirety.

It all kicks off with the title track, where Kovax brags about his skills over a trap beat some haunting background vocals. The next song “Dread of Winter” vents about some personal issues over a gloomy beat while the track “Special” talks about his place in the game over a rock/boom bap fusion. The song “I’m So Beat” talks about the positives & negatives of life over a jazzy instrumental while the track “Buzz Kill” is filled with charismatic battle bars over a beat with some prominently somber guitar licking. The song “Ashes” with Xtra Overdoze sees the 2 displaying a vicious chemistry over an eerie trap beat while the track “Heat” talks about how dope he is over a soulful beat.

The song “Desk Job” talks about how trash his competition is over a horror film-esque trap beat while the track “$1.25” talks about his hustle over a trap beat with an immensely dark atmosphere. The song “Popov” takes a jab at his naysayers over a beautiful soul sample while the track “Empathy” talks about someone he’s beefing with over a minimalist beat. The closer “I Won’t Fall” gets triumphant over a joyful beat & then there’s the bonus track “Egodeth”, where Kovax destroys the confidence of all wack rappers over a grimy boom bap beat.

This is easily the man’s best work yet. It’s a little too short, but Foul Mouth continues to prove that he’s the best producer in hip hop right now with his varied instrumental palates & Kovax’ lyricism is more gruesome than ever before.

Score: 9/10

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Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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