There’s nothing more that I, and your average bass, synth, and sample lover want other than to wake up to see another full length KAYTRANADA LP on our phones, but he’d rather tease us with singles and Eps… we’ll take it though.

Intimidated, KAYTRANADA's new three-track EP, dropped November 19th and features an appearance from Thundercat, and some new faces to be added to KAYTRA’s discography: H.E.R. and Mach-Hommy. KAYTRANADA proves time and time again that his sound is all encompassing, his beats cater to which ever vocalist is blessed enough to get on one of them. The intro, and title track is a smooth, yet up-tempo ballad featuring H.E.R. Following the EP's theme of Intimidation, H.E.R. belts “Don’t run away when you could be lovin’ me” throughout the hook of the track, while also listing her desires, it seems as if the subject of the track is indeed intimidated by H.E.R.; she’s tired of repeating herself so whoever she's crooning about needs to get over themselves before everyone here at Sheesh gets mad at him for making H.E.R. beg. The second track is the song You send whoever’s special to you to send them a hint or two; on “Be Careful” Thundercat can do nothing but marvel at his partner. “Be Careful” is a warning, Thundercat has already had his eye on someone for what seems to be an entire night; and throughout all his confessions of his momentary obsession, he lets them know that they may not make it out the room if their eye continues to fixate on him.

The third and final track “$payforhaiti” is the standout track on this project. There’s just something about hearing Mach-Hommy rap in Haitain Creole and English on the same song. With Kaytranada and Hommy both being of Haitain descent, “$payforhaiti” serves as an opportunity for both artists to play off of Hommy’s album “Pray For Haiti” as well as making a political anthem with a beat groovy enough that we’ll dance to it (Marvin Gaye is somewhere smiling right now). “I told my n*gga pray for Haiti and he told me take the ‘r’ out.” struck a nerve in me. That line alone is enough to write a thesis on… prayers or payments? Is the song an attack on common American ideology that hopes and prayers are enough to get through dark days? Haiti was once the richest colony in the Western World, now it is the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. With some of their biggest issues having to deal with poverty, little to no COVID-19 vaccines (First shipment of doses arrived in August), debt, political protests, and natural disasters; listeners could also hear this as a call to action for all who are able to gather funds to get the world’s first independent Black Republic back on the path to true development.

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