Kynard

During February of this year, Hip Hop/Soul artist Kynard released his debut album “Get Thru the Day”, which features the singles “Friend or Foe” and “The Weekend”. Currently located in Austin, TX, Kynard was raised in the Midwest for most of his life, where he was influenced by 90s R&B as well as the sounds of West Coast Hip Hop and East Coast lyricism. Currently Kynard is enjoying the journey of performing, writing new music, and meeting people who enjoy what he does. Starting with a small fanbase, his goal has been getting the music to people either via the social media websites or live performances. Listening to this 10 track album it’s easy to see that he is in a win-win situation.

If you need a break every now and then from the highly commercial, childish, unsophisticated music being put out now a days, Kynard delivers with this album, which contains deep, well thought out, and meaningful music. This dude is so underrated right now. In this album he gives what we all feel as a black, white, and a multi-ethnic society. He gives us hope; he demonstrates what black urban music is intended to be – informative, imaginative, inspiring, lyrical, and hopeful. Kynard has all the traits of a leader.

In recent times black urban music has lifted its head out of the money-making bling scheme of things only on a handful of occasions that have been really impressed to me; D’Angelo’s Black Messiah, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Solange’s A Seat At the Table, among others, have upended expectations and reinvigorated and expanded the category frames of hip-hop, soul or simply black music, placed around them.

Without wanting to sound overly pretentious or downright disrespectful to any of the aforementioned artists or any of their fans, I think that Kynard’s “Get Thru the Day”, as an independent release, earns the absolute right to be mentioned in the same breath as these albums.

This is an important context for listening to “Get Thru the Day”, partly because great albums seem to come in waves—and there is a strong case to be made that this album is classic material in the making. The gritty, moody production together with the soulful singing, the emotionally stirring lyrics and the on-point rapping is truly masterful for an underground production.

Some of the song themes have been ripped straight out of today’s heartbreaking news headlines or torn directly from Kynard’s saddened soul, then twisted into narratives that will leave you emotively scathed. How could you possibly not be moved by a song such as “Friend or Foe”?

But Kynard can be many things as an artist; mainly he is very sensitive and introspective with lyrics that are extremely personal. The man is not scared to speak his mind or to open his heart to the world, as he truly wears his soul on his sleeve. The songs that kept repeating in my player were “Get Thru The Day”, “Friend or Foe”, “Do Me ft. Mickey Shiloh”, “On My Way” and “Conversations With Bae”.

The chemistry is so right on this album; it’s enough to make you re-evaluate black urban music. It’s in the context of this chemistry that Kynard lands some of his biggest emotional and artistic punches while singing or rapping in his prize fighter mode; bringing home the sheer magnitude of the skillset he’s been creating with all through the ten tracks that make up “Get Thru the Day”. - Jamsphere Indie Magazine

Austin, Texas, based Kynard was a new name to me—but a great find. He has a cool mixture of vibes about him, mainly a Midwest 90s aesthetic sprinkled with that NYC lyricism. He led off with two impressive visuals, which introduced the LP Get Thru The Day, a well-curated gem that’s ten shots (seven songs and three interludes).

The project is just as organized and well structured as it is fractured thematically. It’s separated into three “acts” if you will, which are separated by interludes that aim to change the tone. The first act begins with the ‘rap-hustler-made it’ song “Yeah I Know,” with it’s slow, hypnotic beat and repetitive chant. That’s followed up by “Weekend,” which without question is the most easy-going record on the project, alluding to drinking, having a cookout—weekend shit.

For me, the project takes the most critical turn here for what I’ll call act two, which focuses more on social issues, self-reflection, and that everyday relatable points that make this project so relevant and compelling. The piano-driven “Get Thru The Day” stands as the anthem for the everyday man trying to get through the day as an African American fed up with the overbearing amount of shit that [many of us] of us are faced with. “Friend or Foe” is beautiful—to put it mildly. It loosely explores the paranoid mentality of social inequality and injustice that many are feeling throughout the US these days.

The final act contains tracks for the ladies—kind of. “Conversations with Bae” is relatable as hell, but still squarely focused on vocalizing to the females in the crowd.

On the whole, the project sees Kynard dipping through a few lanes without slowing his speed—except maybe “Weekend” which felt disjointed after I was done with the complete project. Solid straight through listening with some replay value, especially ‘act 2.’ Don’t sleep! - Above Average Hip Hop