Edmonton-by-way-of-Toronto hip-hop artist K-Riz has unveiled two new tracks, “A Place Where Love Is” feat. Yolanda Sargeant and “What a Shame,” off his forthcoming The Room EP set for release on December 18.
With elements of ‘90s-inspired R&B, jazz-infused samples, and compassionate, self-aware rhymes, the tracks showcase the duality of an artist whose music is sonically golden-era while spiritually in the present.
“A Place Where Love Is” offers a brightness to the unrelenting dark of 2020. Built around jazzy piano loops, whip smart verses, and the honeyed notes of Calgary songstress Yolanda Sargeant (of Sargeant X Comrade), it’s the good vibe musical antidote that a year like 2020 needs to end on.
“The track is all about opening your heart and letting love in,” K-Riz says. “I’m tired of seeing so many people in pain, so much violence and hate, destruction to the Earth. The time is now to come together.”
As for “What a Shame”, he mines the depths of accountability and his own part in the dissolution of a past relationship. “I wish I could love you the way that you need to be loved…I couldn’t be everything that you needed/I couldn’t be all that I said that I was,” he raps. His agile wordplay elevated by smooth croons that showcase his strengths as a vocalist.
“Sometimes I think as men we don’t take enough responsibility for our part in relationships failing,” K-Riz says. “I have made my share of mistakes, and sometimes loving someone is not enough. I’m in a very honest place in my life right now, and this EP is an expression of that.”
The Room EP will be released on December 18, 2020, and was written by K-Riz while recovering from injuries sustained in a June 2020 car accident. The title signifies the room in which the album was conceived and the mental space and time he was given to reflect and create.