Karma – ‘Chasing Moments’ Album Review

Chasing Moments is Karma’s second album and becomes his second project in one year after ‘rein.KAR.nation’ which is arguably one of the best albums out of Zim Hip Hop for 2013. Judging from the success of ‘rein.KAR.nation’ , one would expect nothing but the best in ‘Chasing Moments’. Let’s break down his first official album.

Intro – I’ve always maintained that Karma has a big mouth. It’s all evident in this intro. He takes us on a journey through his very first moments in the ‘Zim Hip Hop industry’ up until to where he is now, and what his competition and fans have to say about him.

Zvakunakidza – After an intro like that, Karma decided to set the pace for his next offerings. ‘Zvakunakidza’ is merely a statement enlightening the general listener and Karma’s competition about his capabilities as a rapper and where he believes he can reach given a chance to display his talents.

The Baddest – Perfect party tune this joint! With a ragga feel and a cool hook and feature verse by Gappy Ranks (A Jamaican artist), you are tempted to bop your head to this. You will notice a pattern formed by this album’s track-listing. ‘Chasing Moments’ is a story told in parts or rather chapters, each song being a constituent. The theme tallies with the title. Karma brags that he is good at what he does and we can’t deny it and keeps the story he has been telling in the two previous songs alive.

Chasing Moments – In the first few seconds of play, all I could hear in my brain was “FTR FTR FTR” . Turns out he contributed in the production of this one. ‘Chasing moments'(the song) is a pointer that accurately displays what life is all about when you’re young, confused and are in the midst of finding your way. There is a certain age that we all pass when we are young. In that age , one is faced with a lot options to drive your life towards. That’s not the easiest of phases and unfortunately, most people make a lot of mistakes during this period. This song will take the listener through the emotions of life at the above described point and will most likely take you back to memory lane. As the theme suggests, a person chases moments, hoping they last but the song suggests we do the opposite, that is create our own moments and best believe, one can control how long they last because he/she is the engineer of the moment in the first place!

Follow Me – Karma is such a show off. When you start playing this, you’re amazed by his excellent delivery skills that have always had me thinking Kapital K is in trouble with this man’s presence. Africa and the world in words through the eyes of Karma is what ‘Follow Me’ is all about. He is fantasizing of a better place far away from our daily painful reality. Religion and belief have programmed us to believe there is such a place and Karma describes his expectations in excellent story telling. Then Tateguru nails up a beautiful Shona poetry piece that just pimps up this amazing song. Great effort here. Beautiful, thought provoking metaphors, hilarious relateable Zimbo situation descriptions, flawless delivery, great hook, well-knit story line. You and I have no option but to ‘Follow me (Karma and Tateguru)’.

Come Home Sinner (What Are You Waiting For) – The first verse talks about a young female who has chosen the life of the party. She thinks of nothing more but to live in the moment, without any consideration of what tomorrow brings. Second verse is the story of a male ‘hustler’ , a thief and how he makes a living through illegal dealings. At the end we see this character die. Third verse is all about Karma , his daily routine and the things that go through his head when he is all alone in a quiet space. This is quite an emotional verse and it will take you on a walk in Young Marley’s shoes for a few seconds. Fourth verse is basically what 16days of activism against gender based violence is about. Karma narrates the story of a helpless female who goes through all sorts of violence in the form of abuse from her partner. You will love how this part ends.
In summary, this songs is all about the different struggles people go through whilst chasing moments in life. The uniform thing about the 4 stories that make up ‘Come home sinner’ is that none of the 4 different characters knows what will happen next, but they are fed up and very hopeful of a better tomorrow.

Zilluminati. – So Karma took it upon himself to expose and address the #Zilluminatti. Zimbabwe, let the conspiracy theories fly around.

Come Closer. -Yeah yeah in every album there is that one lovey dovey sweet love song. Come closer is THAT in ‘Chasing Moments’. Unfortunately I am not really a fan of such songs so you can all have your take on this song.

Fall Innit (Falling in it) – This is yet another love song and it is quite relatable. ‘Fall innit’ is just a narration of typical on and off relationship. In it you’re constantly going through the same things, even when you give up. You are always tempted to re-do all the things you’ve done in the past all over again. We often call this ‘Love’ but it is it really?? I wouldn’t know!

All I Need – We all have those days or moments when you just want to relax and forget all about the world and it’s madness. All I need is all about the above. Anthony Grey and J-Rock gave this one a smooth RnB feel and this makes the song appeal to a broad audience. I am impressed with the fact that this song was placed at the end. It’s theme will clearly indicate that all Karma wants to do after chasing moments is to take a rest and forget about everything for a while before getting back to it in the next chapter of life.

You will notice that in this particular album review, I paid attention to the lyrical content more than any other aspects of the musical production. Here’s the reason why. Karma is the kind of artists whose wordplay will captivate you more than the instrumental accompanying the message. There is no doubt whatsoever that he works with the best in the business, but for the reason stated above, instrumentals and sound quality come last.
This album , as shown in the individual track reviews, is a narration of how we chase moments in the different aspects of our lives on a daily basis. The songs are relatable. The messages are close to home. The rhythm of the music is amazing and the track-listing makes it easier for you to listen to the whole album without repeating a song. That is the power of great music . I usually rate albums out of ten but for a change, I will not grade this one. Reason being that placing a certain score to music this powerful is quite an insult to the effort input in this project. Well done Karma and Mix- Masters. Great effort!

Download ‘Chasing Moments’ for free here or buy a copy at a music store near you. You can also listen to it online here.