KOKAYI - AN EPONYMOUS JONT (2026) [Hi-Res]

In 2010, Kokayi released Robots & Dinosaurs, a critically acclaimed album in which the Washington, D.C. rapper, singer, and producer examined the notion of aging in hip-hop. He was about to turn 40, and for whatever reason in this culture, lyricists are often cast aside once they sprout a few gray hairs. This was before rappers like Phonte and billy woods found success as 40-somethings rhyming about blood pressure and hospital vending machines. Back then, older age was a death knell in hip-hop.
Instead of lamenting the passage of time, he used it as a springboard to the future. What would tomorrow look like for the Grammy-nominated pioneer of D.C. hip-hop? Could he still have a place in the genre?

His new album, KOKAYI: an eponymous jont, assesses what happened over the past 14 years. Professionally, he’s shifted his sound from bouncy electronic beats to scant acoustic funk and jazz, giving his voice more room to shine. In doing so, we get to hear the full texture of Kokayi’s voice, a unique, wide-ranging baritone that conveys joy and weariness equally.
On the lead single “Hump Day,” there’s a playfulness to it, even as he’s dissuading you from overwork. It can lead you to drug usage and poor health, he warns. “And you like twenty-three, and the stress is there.” Similarly, “EZ Wider” is about self-medicating when the world is too much. “When this traffic heavy, and my mind is going a hundred miles an hour,” he sings through a heightened tone. “I need a break from it all.” By the time “Last Exit Before Toll” rolls around, he’s taking stock of life to this point, wondering what’s next while pondering the present. Here, the imagined coffee shop in Beverly Hills becomes a synonym for unrealized dreams. His voice sounds brittle and worn as he works out his dreams on paper.

But here’s the most impressive aspect of the album: The whole thing was made up on the spot and completed in one take: the lyrics, the groove, everything. So what you’re hearing is direct from the mind of Kokayi, perhaps the greatest improvising vocalist in music today. If you’ve gone to a jazz show within the past few years, you’ve likely seen him on stage with Nate Smith, Terri Lyne Carrington or Ambrose Akinmusire, twisting his vocals around their uncanny rhythmic patterns. Though he doesn’t write anything for this album or their shows, the lyrics come out fully-formed, and the audience is none the wiser. Not only is this album timely given the tone of the world at-large, it’s a stylistic marvel putting the full breadth of Kokayi’s artistry on full display. It recalls early ‘70s jazz fusion, when underground and mainstream artists started blending the traditional aspects of jazz with funk, landing on a sound that wasn’t quite either. This is Strata-East Records if they were still releasing records. Black Jazz Records if they were still around. Yet Kokayi has never been one to dwell on the past; he remains remarkably fresh and current, able to blend the traditional aspects of jazz with modern soul, funk and hip-hop.

In the end, KOKAYI: an eponymous jont is an album built to last, a remarkably honest LP sure to resonate with all sorts of listeners.

-Marcus J. Moore