Though this is the first time we’re sharing London rapper K C Q in her own right, she has actually featured on this blog before. Back in 2022, she provided guest vocals to The Jamie Situation, a track from York Calling favourite The Loud Bang’s EP, The Alice Experience.

By Graeme Smith

So I was confident that I was in for something special with her second EP release, Former Teen Model. K C Q’s approach to rap and hip-hop is quite different from the norm, and she brings plenty of personality to each of the EP’s four tracks.

With this collection, K C Q is ruminating on her personal fear of failure. She does this through highly poetic, sometimes surreal, lyrics full of visceral imagery. There’s no holding back as she let’s us into her conflicted mind, especially in reflective and cutting track’s like If You Can Make It and Put the Knife Away. The latter is a looping, woozy highlight.

Instrumentally, what strikes you most is the percussion. There’s a richness to it, with real drums that blend nicely with rock and electronica elements. Opening track Haptics is the perfect way to introduce this style, with a hypnotic arrangement supporting a free-flowing, stream-of consciousness vocal delivery. Closer Hydra, 8 PM is another case in point, with bombastic drums building a sense of tension.

As distinctly British K C Q is, this collection has a very transatlantic feel about it. Former Teen Model was recorded across London and Los Angeles, and we get a certain West Coast aesthetic in its production. Darren Callahan, an LA-based composer and producer, co-wrote and mixed the EP.

I’m very excited by K C Q. She is breathing new life into an often staid genre, unafraid to bring a richness to her instrumentals and bare her soul in her lyrics. If her career doesn’t go from strength to strength based on the evidence of her first two EPs, I’d be very surprised. She’s got all she needs to make an impact.

You can check out Former Teen Model below.