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The Kumpnee: The Kumpnee Ball

This album is the bomb – I laughed right out loud! It took me back to the early concept hip hop of De La Soul and Cypress Hill. Loosely based on some surreal dream, the ‘Ball’ is madcap compilation of well-crafted rhymes peppered with some delicious Bro-fonk harmonies, jazzy rhythms and phatter-than-full- cream beats. There’s some stunners like That Girl, which blatantly steals lines from Steve Miller’s Fly Like An Eagle and bounces higher than a red rubber ball on asphalt. Weaving between songs, the short dialogue sequences could’ve be lifted from Taika Waititi’s film Boy. But these three lads are no ‘eggs’. The band’s name is a reference to the Maori Battalion (‘C’ Company) – a fitting tribute to that legacy of waiata and camaraderie. And it’s clear they are having fun. The title track is upbeat and funny, whilst Liar is a blatant dig at Eminem and a cap doffed to Kingston Dancehall, simultaneously. Cookie Jar reworks the line ‘Who stole the cookie from…” and will get under your skin in the first minute. Then there’s No One Special which reworks Randy Newman’s best Disney tunes. Who’d a figured that’d work? Every time I listen I hear something new – a sure sign that this is more than another tedious hip hop album. Keeping the content fresh, they reference all their heroes but never stoop to repetitive whines, jingles or annoying misogynist gansta rap. Chur bros!

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