Kelvin Idris – “In This Life”

Ghana artist Kelvin Idris is one of the newest names on the Rise Up Music Group roster, and his new single “In This Life” is a good introduction if you’re just getting familiar. Now based in Philadelphia, Kelvin has a sound that caught our attention because you really can’t throw it into one category. He can rap, he can get melodic, and you can still hear Ghana all through the music. “In This Life” is one of those records that sounds good in the car, especially at night. The beat is dark, Kelvin catches a melody over it and still gives you enough rap to keep some edge on the record. “In this life we gotta go hard, wasting no time right from the start, working everyday on my part,” he says on the hook. Nothing complicated about the message. It’s about going hard, staying strong and knowing at the end of the day it’s really you against you.

But the song is just what put us onto the bigger story.

Kelvin recently signed with Rise Up Music Group, and this might be one of the label’s more interesting pickups. Rise Up has had plenty of different artists come through its roster over the years, but a Ghana-born artist building his career out of Philadelphia brings something completely different to the table.

Kelvin grew up in Ghana, so the African influence in his music and his accent isn’t something somebody had to teach him in the studio. It’s already in him. You hear it in his voice and some of the melodies he chooses, even when he’s rapping over something darker and harder. That’s where his sound gets interesting because he can make a record that feels at home next to melodic street rap without losing what makes him sound like Kelvin. And don’t think every song is going to sound like “In This Life” either. That’s what really made us curious once we started listening to more of him. Kelvin can make something dark and personal, then turn around and give you a record with a completely different energy. He has songs you can ride to and songs that make more sense when everybody is outside. The sound changes, but his voice keeps it together.

That type of versatility could make the Rise Up situation a good fit. The label has been around long enough to see different eras of independent music come and go, and lately the roster has been getting more diverse. Kelvin gives them a chance to really do something outside of the normal independent rap-label playbook. It also doesn’t hurt that Ghana has been producing some of the most exciting music coming out of Africa. There’s a lot happening there right now, and Kelvin actually comes from that culture. Now he’s in Philly, signed to an American independent label and making records that can touch both sides without sounding like somebody sat down and planned a crossover.

That’s the part we like.

Kelvin doesn’t sound like he’s trying to prove how African he is on every record, and he doesn’t sound like he’s trying to erase it so American listeners understand him either. He just sounds comfortable. Give him a dark rap beat and he’ll find a pocket. Give him something more melodic and he’ll find one there too.

Kelvin Idris’s “In This Life” is out now through Rise Up Music Group.

#riseupmusicgroup #kelvinidris #inthislife #ghana