Shunda K & Kotchy - Le Passion, Yo!

(Muso's Guide, March 24, 2009)

EP review

Shunda K & Kotchy - Le Passion, Yo!

Hip hop gets a bit of a bad rap, if you’ll pardon the expression.

Not naturally a residency for romance, its ranks seem to be swollen with testosterone-laden hulks and, at best, fighty, mouthy women whose guy has done them wrong - through virtue of being a ‘scrub‘ or otherwise undesirable.

But what is fun about conventions is when someone comes along and refuses to conform to them.

Shunda K is someone who likes to kick against the curve, and it shows.

As a member of Yo Majesty, along with singer Jwl B, both she and Miss K, aka LaShunda Flowers are openly lesbian and christian, and hailed critically as a breath of fresh air.

This free four-song download teams Shunda K up with Brooklyn-based producer Kotchy, who has previously worked and toured with artists like Tricky, The Walkmen and Joan As Policewoman, to name but a few.

Named ‘Le Passion, Yo!’, the download takes steps through a relationship - from the initial meeting, through the first blushes and out the other side.

Opener ‘First Encounter’ is a steamy one. Tough-talking, real-rapping Shunda K makes a meal of the come on, with “Take me away to your private place” and warning the object of her affection “don’t get your panties in a twist”.

It’s hot to say the least, in and out of Shunda K’s world - “When you look my way/I warm up by ten degrees”, soothing into a cooldown with the repeated refrain “Let’s make it more than a dream”.

On ‘You Are’, the praise of beauty continues. A sort of post-modern ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…’, the track sees Shunda K rolling words of lust around her tongue, treading a fine line between romantic adoration and out-and-out harrassment.

By ‘We Feelin’ Each Other’, the relationship is more relaxed - “This is only the beginning”, or so we’re told, but with this accelerated relationship’s trajectory, it seems hardly long before there’s nothing left.

The grimy beats and barely contained bitterness of ‘Holla’ is a societal comment for the world in which Shunda K and Kotchy find themselves. “If you’re not a trust fund baby, holla… Our culture must be in a coma/And I’m not a doctor”.

Shunda K is taking the work here in some really interesting directions - the almost radio-friendly hip hop beats of ‘You Are’ makes a real impact, and the laidback raps on ‘First Encounter’ really mark out the impressive talents on show.

Must be le passion…