(Photo By Divine Atoms)
South Central, Los Angeles emcee Kevin Cool is ready to place himself amongst the current list of fresh, new school artists. Another member of the intercontinental Divine Atoms crew, he embodies their message of divine thinking and connectivity to the universe to the fullest. His modest eclectic look and smooth delivery reminds me of a Digable Planets member merging with the late Guru of Gang Starr. In his early 20s, the Left Coast rhymer is wasting no time with the release of his new track “The Time Is Right.”
Cool plugged up with producer Phoniks for this laid back joint, and it serves him well. The far east sample makes for a very solid and melodic base. He builds on the heavenly sound of the track with a few light strings over the entire record. The drum loop is fairly basic and doesn’t change up outside of a drop or two. The same goes for the bass line and while that doesn’t do much for variance in the instrumental, it does fit Cool’s dynamic.
I enjoyed the fitting topic of the song, with Cool announcing this as his moment to shine. The vocals on the track are laid extremely smoothly. The young writer knows what he wants to sound like so his voice and tone are his biggest weapons. He also kicks some slick lines throughout the entire song too. I was caught when I heard: “I’m in the cut, nip tuck, blunts get dissected. Eat a beat, bon appetite, then digest it. Y’all can’t stomach the truth, hard to digest it.” He has interesting punchlines scattered all over the song.
**Final Thoughts: Overall, this track is good. “The Time is Right” has nice production and a polished vocal performance. The thing is, its the super simplicity of it that doesn’t make it stand out too much. The vibe is on point and I think that both Kevin Cool and Phoniks handle their parts well. It just lacks the extra push I would like to see from the young emcee. -Real McCoy
