I’ve been listening to this project since the day it dropped. To be quite fair to whomever gets to read this, Tumi is an abstract dude and there are so many subliminal messages in his style and character, there is no shortage of that in this album. This is through observing T the Mcee to T the vocal activist and lots of altering personas that come through from 16s immaculately penned and cemented by sound musical compositions.
What I can pull out from “Return Of The King” from the jump is, that Tumi unapologetically iterates that he is without shame not only a veteran of the game but royalty as well.
The project has 14 cuts of direct and boisterous intent. This is hip hop and the artist makes no uncertain doubts about letting you know where he comes from in the industry and where he’s headed as a mogul and a label owner training on the job.
The intro opens with a royal Zulu kingdom chant, a king’s appraisal which is also lyrically tackled by Tumi’s favourite young’n (allegedly) Keirnan Forbes. The second joint “Bayete” explains and reiterates the title of the album. If you know anything about Tumi’s music, it’s that he is fighting for his art, not necessarily a physical altercation with anyone in particular but for “real” hip hop, the genre has been diluted so much in recent years, although rappers from the early 2000s and prior, because of the evolution of the sound, tend to feel like they were in it for the artistic form of rap, which they loosely refer to as “real hip hop”.
In defence of his art he makes no apologies for being who he is and the style that he displays when pouring his heart out on each verse and the video of “in defence of my art” translates his intent visually on this somewhat controversial subject bordering between commercial appeal and the grits of being conscious.
Visa featuring Busiswa is the 2nd single if not the third from T. With rappers dropping singles way before they drop albums these days, you can hardly tell which single is which but, in any case, my point is Visa seems to be the one song South Africans accepted with a much warmer reception because of the topic of conversation the song takes on, the dexterity of the language used by both artists. It also isn’t difficult to decipher the real reasons why South Africans are fond of this track, Visa is slang for a free pass for those who are bound by their spouses in holy matrimony or otherwise to enjoy the freedoms of promiscuity for a day or night.
I must say there are countless classics in this offering but, the African melodies in “Hlasela Dithuta” and “G63” are something to marvel on. My Sotho is a bit challenged but you can’t help but admire the soothing hook in Hlasela Dithuta accompanied of cause by verses with great substance.
I think I could put my head on the chopping block and list this one as one of the best local projects out this year, the word “local” might make Tumi cringe but as international as his appeal was, Return of the king is still a local dynamite.