KUKII drops new EP: Rare Baby

KUKII’s “Daylight Heist” entices even the most straight-edged to taste the candy sticking out from the hands of an unassuming toddler. Combining four-to-the-floor beats, syncopated hand drums, and synthetic notes to emulate an energy of audaciousness running through the streets of Cairo. The track is a frenetic anthem for passion-driven defiance, inspired by the story of a bold Parisian high-jewelry heist. KUKII, previously known as Lafawndah, aurally punches through the floor of the song – her voice a sultry spell of passion and urgency. 

“Daylight Heist” is the second single from KUKII’s new EP, Rare Baby – a project that is a witness to and a testimony of the artist’s transition to a different alias. KUKII’s essence lies in Cairo – born after Lafawndah’s return to her origins. The EP blends the sonic history and culture of Cairo into the fabric of a contemporary feminine message and desire for power, appreciation, and independence. 

“I’m a rare baby,” KUKII declares as an accelerating drum beat ignites an imaginative circle of people dancing with white pocket tissues held in place between their pinky and ring fingers, circling and waving as limbs move with passion and energy. KUKII’s distorted vocals thread along the body like claws with crimson polish, leaving red imprints of passion. A sensual intervention, moving the body to mosh, dance, and embody an eroticism that is much more powerful than conventionally understood. 

The aural atmosphere is not only intense and hard-hitting, but the urgency and strain in the vocals express a cardiac wound, and trickles of blood that coat it permeate the layered sonic textures. From top to bottom, listening to Rare Baby is to be Lady Macbeth muttering, “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white;” touching the blood that has pooled around KUKII, and leaving deeply impacted, but with a void, an absence that haunts and urges a swift return to the projects infectious aural space.