On their collaborative new four-song EP, Mementos (released May 12, 2023), local hip hop artist Dupel and future-funk phenom KaKaow come together in an electronic beats and rap combo. This Kingston-based tag team has been hitting the scene hard with several live performances, and boasting new imagery drawing colours from an eye-catching purple and blue palette. Not one to shy away from the bright lights and hues in his visual art—including his latest music video for “Let's Get It”— KaKaow's colourful compositions cast a glow on Dupel's dexterous vocal delivery.

“We created the project as a way to tell the story of a relationship from start to ending, using bits of our own lives to do so,” explained Dupel of the artists' unfolding relationship. “Not only does each song act as a memento of an old relationship of ours, but the project itself is a way for us to remember that point in time of our careers.”

The four songs that comprise Mementos are sequenced in a particular order so listeners are experiencing the relationship in the reverse of its timeline. “We settled on telling this story backwards through the EP, and we named it after a movie that did the same thing; (director) Christopher Nolan’s Memento,” said Dupel.

The EP begins at the end with “Good Spirits” then finishes at the beginning with “XTC,” each song delivering an ebb or flow of energy, atmosphere and mood.

Mementos is guaranteed to get your head bobbing to the broken beats of KaKaow, synchronized seamlessly with Dupel's rhymes. KaKaow retreats back to these broken beats, but also features some similar sounds that he experimented with in his last album, Takin’ Off. For Dupel, this EP highlights his versatility and his ability to adapt and shift to different sounds.

Mementos would be a fitting soundtrack for a chill summer evening with your buds (and some bud). While the EP is sonically atypical for both KaKaow and Dupel respectively, it blends their talents together in a new and fascinating way. Fans of grime or dubstep should find Mementos especially enjoyable. Posted: May 13, 2023