K. Koke had fans wondering what he was going to unleash when he tweeted on Sunday that a ‘#KokeSurprise’ was in store. In fact, there was not only one but two surprises; the first being the video to a track called ‘Warning’, which led to his second surprise – ‘Pure Koke Vol. 3 – The Missing Tape’. The USG member also revealed it was to be the last in the series…
The ‘Pure Koke Vol. 1’ mixtape created a heavy buzz underground for the now Roc Nation signee and was independently released and downloaded over 10,000 times.
‘Pure Koke Vol. 3’ is going to keep fans entertained until the release of his debut album ‘I Ain’t Perfect’, which is set for release in January. The first single is called ‘Turn Back’ and features Maverick Sabre, which is due to air on Zane Lowe’s show on Radio 1 this Thursday.
The first two tracks ‘Power’ and ‘Warning’ were a good way to warm up fans old and new, as Koke eases newbies in as gently as he can to his sound. The ‘6 Million Ways To Die’ freestyle is more of Koke’s style and uses the famous Cutty Ranks ‘A Who Seh Me Dun (Wake De Man)’ sample in the beginning, which was furthermore popularised on Snoop Dogg’s ‘Serial Killa’ track.
Onwards, there are a mixture of tracks that, as a Koke fan, you would have already heard. These include ‘We Get It In’, ‘I’m Ready’, ‘Film It’, ‘I’m Back’, ‘Cold Roads’ and more.
I was very impressed with the new tracks, one being ‘Clap Clap’ featuring USG member EXO where he refers to the infamous barbers incident: “I slip regardless, but I didn’t get wigged in the barbers”.
For me, ‘Holla At The Kid’ featuring Dotstar saw Koke deliver something different but impressive. The production is on another level and the electro vibe to it was a welcome addition. ‘I’ll Never’ became a straight banger for me as soon as I heard it. I liked the vocals on the hook, with the rappers motto: “I will never b***h up, I will never switch up, I will never take the stand and snitch”, and of course on this note, the reference to Spider.
The biggest thing to impress me on the tape was the mixture of features. It isn’t like an average UK rap mixtape, where most of the other features are relatively known UK artists. Koke has shown versatility reaching out to rappers from around the globe; for example on ‘Music In My Veins’ a French rapper, CID Youssef, is featured.
On ‘Toronto 2 UK’, we see Canadian rapper Gangis Khan. US rapper Krayzie Bone from Bone Thugs-n-Harmony is present on ‘Way To Go’. ‘Change’ features Grand Hustle members DJ Drama and SPOT and we hear ThoroughBred on ‘Ain’t S**t Change’. He also supports UK talent with the Margs and Malik MD7 feature, as well as including Dotstar, Big Narstie, Meeks, C Biz and Frostman.
K. Koke fans will definitely be impressed with his latest offering – as one myself, I am. I would have liked to have heard more new tracks, but I reckon he has done the last of the ‘Pure Koke’ series justice.
Now we just have to wait for his Roc Nation debut ‘I Ain’t Perfect’ to see how he switches up the levels in the jump from the mixtape to the album.
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