Photo credit: Reuben Bastienne-Lewis (@reuben.bl)
By Alissa Arunarsirakul // July 8, 2021
It seems like quite a few of the emerging artists we’ve discovered this year are from South East London, and we don’t think that’s any old coincidence. Growing up with a street dancing mother and a rapping father, Kai Kwasi has always been surrounded by music. As Kwasi continues to make waves in the alternative R&B realm, he’s spoiling us with his eclectic new single, “sms.”
On “sms,” Kai Kwasi shared,
“‘sms’ carries the sentiment of what will be will be. It’s about the comfort to be found in chaos when you relinquish the need for control. I got my friends Venna and KarimThaPeasant on the track, both putting their whole selves into the work. It’s a luxury I’ll never take for granted to make the kind of music I’ve always wanted to make, and doing it all with my people.”
Fully embracing his love of jazz, indie, and R&B, Kwasi holds nothing back when it comes to the exquisite instrumentation we hear in “sms.” Drenched in rich saxophones, vibey guitars, and astounding vocals, “sms” proves exactly why we believe Kwasi is a must-listen for 2021. Shot on the banks of the River Thames, the accompanying visual follows the journey of an adventurous cardboard box, but it’s up to you to find out where it ends up…
“The visual for ‘sms’ picks up where my last track and video ‘unt’ left off. Keepin the same people onboard, we just tried to have fun shooting again. We managed to pull the whole thing together in between lockdowns and I think we ended up with something really beautiful.”
The Hidden Hits 