A timely release from the globetrotting rapper.

An introspective examination of love and loss, spat out over moody trap beats with a splash of euphoria – doesn’t sound like your standard loved-up Valentine’s Day release… Then again, Melbourne-based rapper KVKA is not your standard artist. In fact, having listened to his debut EP Cupid’s Revenge, it seems that he’s hellbent on subverting the norms and forging his own path within Australia’s “new school” rap ecosystem.

Born in Zambia, but having lived in Wales and New Zealand before eventually settling in Melbs, the 23-year-old dropped his first ever track ‘Who You’ about six years ago, thrusting him into the spotlight over the ditch. The hard-hitting tune has now racked up over four million streams and saw him score supports with the likes of GZA, Rejjie Snow, Wiki and Keith Ape. Fast forward a few years and he’s built on the initial hype, releasing a diverse string of singles, unified by his big-energy flow and emotive grounding.

Dropping yesterday (which also happens to be his birthday), KVKA has gifted us his most succinct and powerful work to date in the form of Cupid’s Revenge. The EP, which is out on Melbourne label Mirage Records, broadly documents KVKA coming out of an emotionally dark spot and finding strength in his journey:

“Cupid’s Revenge isn’t just a project about love, it’s not an autobiography either—it’s really just the story of me trying to pick myself up at a really low point in my life, after experiencing heartbreak,” KVKA says. “I felt like even being born on Valentine’s Day couldn’t guarantee me luck in love, and I was trying to create the soundtrack to my new world as a way of moving past it. It’s also a fuck you to everyone that doubted me in the past and a celebration of finding myself, cherishing the people around me and taking brave leaps to chase my goals.”

Dip into Cupid’s Revenge below, in KVKA’s track by track and head here to follow him on Instagram.

Gold

I wanted to start the project by establishing a snapshot of my hometown of Hamilton in New Zealand and why I had to leave to focus on music. I hope I will make my city proud, but the opening lyric of “No love in my ends, no applause for my wins” is one of the most real statements I could make about Hamilton.

Wow

I made this song with like $3 in my pocket and a broken heart fresh from a serious relationship ending. At that time I felt like I needed a song that was almost a positive affirmation to myself, something to help me see through the dark times and get all my angst out.

Fast! Fast!

This song was the first time collaborating with producer Tony Douglas since we made ‘Who You’ back when I was a kid. It was cool to work with him again and I felt like it was important to try and have as much fun as much a possible, show off some different dynamics and go as crazy on the track as did when we started way back in 2014.

Hell (Interlude)

We just threw this idea I had in to try and represent how I felt at that point. I had just moved to Melbourne from NZ so I was feeling pretty alone in a new country away from my friends and family. I had just split up with the love of my life at that time, so I genuinely feel like I was in Hell and the music was like the soundtrack of me trying to crawl out of this hole I was in.

Double Up

This song is like me if I was in Hell losing my morals! I was speaking from a pure place of ego and bravado. Doing the rock star shit— sex, drugs, music and money was on lead vocals for this one.

No Lackin

On this track, I wanted to try and showcase more of my rapping abilities on something that stomped a little harder. I also used No Lackin to introduce my childhood homie Lenaic, who is a dope rapper who is living in Melbourne now too. It’s just a celebration of me and my nigga getting out of Hamilton to better ourselves, so we just vibin’ on this one but it’s also like our revenge track for everyone who thought we’d never amount to anything. It’s got aggression and bravado so it fits the overall theme of the project but was also a fun ‘fuck you’ track.

Freddie Murkem

After ‘No Lackin’, I wanted to continue to explain my battle in music and why this project represents my revenge. “I used to be on my own, doubled the work up, now I get hit on my phone”. Most of my life I’ve been isolated and a bit of a loner, not out of choice but I always felt like I had a different vision of life that my peers couldn’t grasp. You can feel that in the emptiness in between the chords, there’s a sense of isolation, making those lyrics feel powerful.

Cupid Interlude

I made this back in 2015 with STUSS at his place in Hamilton, I wanted to create something inspired by the Garage/British rock songs I grew up listening to in my early years, we purposefully made everything sound far away so I could sound like a live garage recording. The song itself is what a typical baby born on Valentine’s day knows best: love, heartbreak, longing and all that Cupid shit.

High

This song is me letting go of love and trying to see the reality to it, like the pain and betrayal. I feel like often when people look back at lost relationships you can develop amnesia towards the reasons it didn’t work out in the first place, so this is me just being like “don’t forget the shitty parts” —its probably for the best.

Heaven

This song has many meanings and themes throughout it, some are totally subjective and personal to me, others are more general but the main idea is pursuing happiness in life, whether the road is known or not “I pray to the lord as I drive through the mist” —sometimes you’re just praying for the best but at least you’re moving forward. It’s about the battle to make it to your version of heaven, the uneasiness of not knowing who will be there with you at the end or how long it’ll take, but staying focused and pushing regardless.