K2 Cocky – SOCIAL STUDIES (Album Review)

There is a specific style of rap lurking in the archives of rap history from the 80s and 90s that I think is largely forgotten today by my generation. Pioneers and fans of this particular subgenre have passed on from the bounds of this planet, and no, i’m not insinuating any rap with the cadence of Fein. Picture the style of shock rap from one of the pioneers of the genre itself, Shock G. (The name speaks for itself, doesn’t it?) Today’s article will center around an artist who has culminated his identity within the bounds of such a genre, with the intent to incorporate other genres to portray an artistic vision that is quirky, multifaceted and somewhat unlimiting. Let me introduce you to K2 Cocky.

K2 Cocky is a New York-based LGBTQ artist who is known for his unique style as well as empowering lyrics. Impressively, he self-produces his work, including the release that this review will explore titled ‘SOCIAL STUDIES’. He has amassed a dedicated following on various social media platforms, with this release marking a significant milestone in his career. He invites listeners into his world with this groundbreaking release, addressing personal experiences, societal issues and celebrations of identity. The release promises a blend of infectious beats as well as thought-provoking storytelling, creating a powerful and engaging listening experience. Not to mention, K2 Cocky’s artistry can be traced to a bunch of paradigm shifting artists, including but not limited to: Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Aphex Twin, 2pac as well as Nas. The album has also garnered 50k streams since its release in July, making it worthy of investigating.

Without further ado, let’s explore this release.

The first track, ‘LIFE STORY’, begins with an interesting and slighty atonal cluster of notes. I like how it presents the song with a sense of urgency, kind of like the motif in the song Mamushi by Megan Thee Stallion and Yuki Chiba. The compositional intent of the song is quite interesting, with the addition of futuristic and bold synths to add depth to the track. From a production standpoint, it meets the halfway mark, but there needs to be more filler sounds, dynamics and transitionary elements to gel the other musical elements into a more cohesive track. The sound design and sound selection is flawless, but the execution is choppy. Same goes with the vocals, even though I understand the harsh story behind the lyrics itself and I do empathise with the artist, it needs to be better mastered. The delivery of the vocals is lacking a certain musical oomph to match the track itself. Perhaps if the vocals were better mastered, this problem would be rectified to a larger degree.

The second track, ‘NO HOPE’, suffers the fate of worse sound selection. The claps and the hi-hats just don’t mix well in the track. I acknowledge the artist’s knack for picking out certain piano trills, but it needs to be mastered together. Same with the vocal track. It suffers the same fate of the initial track, and I hope this isn’t a recurring pattern the more I listen to the album. I do appreciate the slight hypersaw in the background, giving the song a feel of robust futurism.

The third track, ‘WELFARE’, boasts a better attempt at trying to make a robust, mysterious as well as slightly subversive soundscape to fit the thematic content of the song. However, I have to say, it strays inbetween the line of being compositionally interesting versus overdone. Good mastering would’ve solved this track, but unfortunately it ends up sounding like a poorly made composition towards the end. It actually has immense potential, and the way this was executed does not give justice to the productional aim of this track.

I’d say, the fourth track, ‘STEALING THE EAST’, has the best production and mastering out of all the tracks I’ve heard thus far. The drum pattern is unique, and the arpeggiations in the background build up with enough time to give the song dynamics- an aspect that I’ve been yearning for throughout this album. The break inbetween the first sequence of the track and the second track is utter genius from a compositional and mastering perspective. To the artist, if you’ve been put off by my comments in your previous track, please note that I think this track has the greatest potential out of all of your tracks. If more of your tracks exemplified the level of proficiency you showed in this track, I think you’d be on a more critically acclaimed path. (I’m well aware by your streaming numbers that my perception of your tracks will not deter your fans- or streaming potential.)

The fifth track, ‘UGLY’, comes across as a lost track. Perhaps it was intentionally done to mimic the title of the song, I’m not quite sure. This song was genuinely an unpleasant experience. The initial synthesized segments show potential with how unique it sounds, but the beat honestly takes away from what it could be- let’s not even talk about the poor mastering of the vocal tracks and the ad-libs. Was this intentional?

I can definitely hear the Nine Inch Nails influence in the sixth track, ‘THE PAYMENT’. It starts off strong, with good mastery in this aspect. All aspects of the instruments used definitely shine, with a cohesive and crisp drum pattern as well as a roaring guitar sequence. However, the main problem of the album- the vocals- detract from the genius of the track itself. It just does not gel well. It sounds badly mastered and even out of tune in some instances. I think the track is perfectly made, though. It shines as an industrial-rock track.

The seventh track, ‘FACEMASK’, improves in terms of the vocal tone… until it reaches a sequence of multi-layered vocals. It has POTENTIAL- it’s just the lows ruining the track. The high ends of the vocals actually sound quite good. In terms of the instrumental, I have ZERO issues. It’s a WONDERFULLY mastered and produced track! Robust, energetic, synchronized, almost as if it were from The Gorillaz with a tinge of Marilyn Manson. The vocalist actually performs better in a ‘spoken-rap’ type sequence with a voice filter, instead of singing. I think K2 Cocky’s musical abilities could be universally appreciated if he focused on his productions and perhaps stuck to a more ‘speaking’ cadence instead of attempting to rap melodically or sing melodically. It’s a wonderful track.

The eighth track, ‘WHAT ABOUT US?’ is another absolute gem from the album. I’m not even trying to be nice for no reason, I genuinely mean it. The composition, mastering and intent of this track shines. Perhaps, one of the best tracks in the whole album. The artist continues the motif from the previous track, showing his obvious proficiency in producing and mastering industrial-rock tracks with a chilled out, spoken cadence approach to narrating the lyrics. I love the effects and the technological sounds in the back of the track, in fact, which VST did you use, K2 Cocky? A provocative and succulent track. I have to give you your roses for this one.

The ninth track, ‘DALIBORED’, takes on the initial style at the beginning of the album with lone piano motifs accentuated with industrial sounds. However, it also mirrors the quality at the beginning of the album as well- slightly poor mastering (the levels on this track surely must’ve been peaking) with the poor cadence of the vocalist attempting to rap and sing at the same time. It just does not meld together as a cohesive entity. Unfortunately, when his vocals are layered, it makes the track sound even more amateurish.

The tenth track, ‘FACEMASK – version’, honestly has me, as a listener, convinced of the pattern emergent within this release. K2 Cocky shines as a producer more so than a rapper or a singer, and a producer of industrial, abstract rock specifically. Oddly enough, after the disappointment of the previous track, this track leaves me on a high with how well-mastered and cohesive this track is. It almost makes you wonder how someone can be so proficient and un-proficient at the same time. This song is a masterpiece. It reminds me of ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’ by David Bowie, a well-known track that was also co-produced by one of the members of Nine Inch Nails.

The last track, ‘EXIT: AMERICA’, serves as an abstract noise-rock sequence towards the end of the album. It reminds me of a lot of motifs that Sonic Youth used to employ in their works. I understand the artistic intent of this track, even though it is quite short.

All in all, this release honestly confused me. K2 Cocky weaves the line between proficiency and mediocrity quite well, making me wonder why he chose to be multifaceted instead of polishing his obvious skills and niches. Yes, it is a hallmark of a wonderful artist and a musician to be multifaceted and dabble in various genres, but you have to master and polish them before releasing them as a cohesive body of work that’s passed production. All the songs in which K2 Cocky sticks within industrial, instrumental or even less vocal-heavy rhetoric are utterly perfect- in fact, I could see myself replaying these tracks over and over again myself. Tracks such as ‘STEALING THE EAST’, ‘THE PAYMENT’, ‘WHAT ABOUT US?’, both versions of ‘FACEMASK’, and ‘EXIT: AMERICA’ could’ve been expanded upon instead of the other remaining tracks of the album. They’re well-mastered, and suit his vocal tone, instead of musically clashing or suffering from a bout of terrible mastering and vocal layering. As a producer, I’d definitely encourage K2 Cocky to continue producing the genres that he does best at- and definitely take the pointers from the other tracks to be the best version of themself they could be.

At the end of the day, I want K2 Cocky to succeed and put the best version of himself out there as an artist- as with any other artist I encounter.

Score/Mediocre to Good: I had a hard time deciding on the scale because of how great some tracks were and how poor some tracks were. From a mathematical standpoint, if 5/11 of the album is listenable, then it would go in the ‘Mediocre’ category. However, 5 songs from ‘SOCIAL STUDIES’ that I’ve pointed out are too well-mastered, delectable and proficient for the album to completely be Mediocre. K2 Cocky is an artist that definitely has untapped potential that needs further cultivating.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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