Even though Black History Month was in February, there’s always time for a necessary moment to pay homage to the people who came before us to understand the path up ahead. This is where Killa Kyleon, one of the most thought-provoking and provocative lyricists to come out of Houston, plays a role. On his new EP, Lorraine Motel, he speaks on a heated topic on the first single, “Killing Over Jays.”
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The song is a short, but heavy-handed record that features the Texan spilling rhymes about the innocent lives being taken over expensive basketball sneakers in poor neighborhoods–while Michael Jordan remains silent on the matter. Kyleon’s first verse memorably stands out because it tells the all too familiar story of a youngster working hard and saving his money to buy a pair of kicks, only to be robbed and killed by local haters. He paints a very vivid picture over the jazzy, bass and horn-filled production of legendary H-Town fixture, Cory Mo.
Kyleon explains that the need for the project and its relevancy to issues in the African-American community is what motivated him to hit the studio.
“The Lorraine Motel project is directed at what’s going on in today’s society within the black community as a whole,” Kyleon says. “It’s not a one-sided commentary, it deals with the treatment people of color have been receiving from law enforcement and how we are programmed and influenced by social media, television and the culture of hip-hop to treat each other as well. As a race and culture, we need to stand together, but also take accountability for our actions. I feel the black American dream and ideal died when MLK was murdered in Memphis (at the Lorraine Motel).”
The timely EP also serves “as an analogy of today’s climate in America,” he adds. “We all (African Americans) died that day at the Lorraine Motel. Barack Obama is the last of one of our strongest black leaders to lead us as a race. The Lorraine Motel project focuses on events (both past and current) that have taken place since that fatal day.”
The EP is available for purchase on iTunes.