Kubota has a voice of his own, a style that the Inglewood based artist has carefully carved out over his short but promising career. It’s an innocent, dreamy, and diy style of hip-hop that’s more reminiscent of an indie project than a rap one. Combining elements of bedroom pop with the melodies of an indie rock record and the lackadaisical delivery of an alternative hip-hop record, Kubota’s Zen EP is a relaxant unlike any other. The record is a collection, an amalgamation of his experiences searching for peace and happiness through introspection and self-growth.
The Zen EP is an introspective record. It’s intimate, deeply vulnerable, and expressive throughout. The usual topics covering anxiety, heartbreak, depression, love, and more all get addressed. There’s the more jovial and light-hearted pieces like Sunday Vibes and the more mellow and deeper ones like Who I Am equally making representation on the project. But Kubota excels in the minimal, it’s when he’s not doing too much or too little, when he perfectly nestles himself in this sweet spot of expression while being rather restrained that his work finds the most attention in me. His lackadaisical approach combined with his evocative lyricism and vocal performance is just so colourfully endearing. ‘Nothing for Today’ is the perfect piece for me, capturing the need to just fuck off from everything around you and just focus on your own happiness. Being caught in the rat race myself, it really helped me mellow down and let go of the troubles for a while.
Bedroom pop done right by an artist who’s clearly caring for his own style and expression above any metrics and benchmarks.