Joka (born Ntale Joram) is at his most confident and intentional across a casually sublime studio project, constantly returning to the imagery of music and the casualties of a life devoted to making and sharing art.
For an artist who has never seemed particularly interested in discussing the facts of his life or the meaning of his songs, Joka has been unmistakably candid about both when it comes to his most recent release, Forest Green EP.
“I made this EP as a way to deal with the loss of someone close to me,” the 23-year-old songwriter explained in a post-release social media post.
“It’s strange to realize that it wasn’t them who were lost, but me.”
Forest Green could outperform everything else in his catalog.
It feels purposefully unified and cohesive, sharing themes, textures, and musical threads across five songs in less than 30 minutes, and unlike anything since the 2020s partially worked records.
In his credits, Joka thanks the entire racktide records team for facilitating both the recording sessions and the production process, including GEOXwill (born Muiri George), Timothy Dylan (born Amio Timothy Dylan), and Pingting (born Odongping Siraje), who produced all of the project’s main tracks.
Furthermore, he dedicated it to his fans who love his music and share the craft as if it were their own.
Forest Green EP was created in the month of May in Banda-Kampala and constantly returns to music imagery. performance and the byproducts of a life dedicated to creating and sharing art.
In the lighthearted “Munakampala,” Joka wonders if he’s experiencing a genuine connection with someone or if they’re both trapped in a vicious cycle of using and being used, reciting old lines in an attempt to persuade the audience that they do.
Joka introduces GEOXwill, an executive producer at Racktide Records, in the beautifully arranged “Tulage (ft. GEOXwill),” with whom they showcase their versatility of rap flows and melodies to deliver a stunning club banger.
Even songs that do not explicitly refer to the pop star’s struggles eventually reveal their common ground.
On one level, “Muwala (Bonus track)” is one of Joka’s best songs, a melodic spoken-word narrative about or deliberate
Due to his hushed vocals, nonlinear lyrics, and stately, winding melodies, his peers in the Urban music scene were his most frequent comparisons for a long time.
(“Murda Me” and “Christina” from this album are especially powerful examples of that last gift.)
Joka shifted his focus on the Forest Green EP to mostly heart issues, ranging from happy times to the most brutal of feelings, all approached with the same fervent intensity, humor, and absurdity.
“I tried to fight the feeling when I see you less,” Joka raps at the start of the second verse of “Christina,” one of the most obvious statements in this project because he expresses a void in his life as a creator and presents music as his escape. alternative to these feelings of loneliness
This flow between music and message both animates and complicates the record’s straightforward lyrics.
In “Murda Me,” a song about a lustful obsession with a beautiful girl that he knew would take a lot of dedication to master, or even just sing along to, Joka presents a bleak itinerary of touring life: lusting after women, running out of money, losing touch with reality.
“Girl you shoot me on sight, girl you leave a man down, girl you make a man frown when you go…..,” Joka sings, and it’s around this point that “Murda Me” begins to feel like a love song to the person who shed some light on the dark inevitability of death. his way of life.
Whether or not the song is autobiographical, you can hear its message resonate throughout the Forest Green EP, shining on its hard truths and casting a strange, beautiful glow that, for the duration of the record, appears to be the only thing worth risking everything to share.
Mirrored by M. Ferrister
AZEYA MEDIA 