Every Friday, we’re here to remind you of the Boston artists we love and think you oughta know.
2019 feels like a lifetime ago at this point, so when I saw Kadeem was releasing another project less than a year after his August 2019 album World Sport, it didn’t feel rushed. I first met Kadeem when collaborating on a show at Great Scott in October 2017. His collaborators at the time included Haasan Barclay, Michael Christmas, and other Boston heavy hitters on the few tracks that were out. They were jam packed with incredible flow and beats. His performance at that show was electric, and he commanded the stage like I hadn’t seen in a long time. I was floored.
Passing Exchange came out last week, and the five songs show an artistic breakdown of his sound. His BIGELOW EP had elaborate production. World Sport toned it down a bit, and Passing Exchange feels bare-boned in comparison to BIGELOW. His poetic lyrics truly shine on Passing Exchange. Kadeem said of his motivation, “I want[ed] to slightly peel back this veil I feel surrounds my artistry. Not that I feel my music is mysterious, but my content doesn’t give enough of my depth. That’s how I feel. It’s a gift/curse to bar out. I’m not downplaying my love for wordplay but, the balance of just “being” in your music is important. This is a first step towards that.”
Along with the EP, there is a visual component, a string of videos that tie all the songs together. Kadeem says this was an idea that came to him after all of the songs were written, and the first demos were recorded. The videos served as a way to connect the songs together. He says, “There was an element of pain and/or progression in each. That’s why I wanted a visual. To document this ‘day in the life’ kind of feel via moving forward by triggers of life.” He says he’s always within his personal mission of self-awareness, and these videos tied to Passing Exchange help shape that. You see his everyday life and places in his neighborhood of Mattapan that shape him and make him who he is.
So what should we learn from Passing Exchange? Kadeem wants people to first have fun with it and relish in his “puzzle of wordplay.” “It’s like food, no matter how healthy something is for you, if it tastes like shit you’re just forcing yourself to consume because of the notion that it’s ‘good for you.’ Well, Passing Exchange goes down like a nice home cooked Sunday dinner with your family, so let’s all listen together while we’re forced to stay apart.
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