Houston native Kidd The Great makes his DopeHouse debut with Gifts Ungiven, a four-track EP ridden with Southern soul, rap and R ‘n’ B.
Throughout the project’s four tracks, it’s hard to tell which trade comes first — singing or rapping — but that’s what, off a brief introduction, made him standout. The EP’s first two songs are all you need to catch the full range of Kidd the Great’s talent. Starting with the braggadocios “Blind Us,” a song that seems to take its simple structure from a song like Drake’s “Back 2 Back” and improves upon it, Kidd combines the likes of Devin the Dude and R. Kelly on the smooth-yet-swag-filled “5 Pct Tint.”
In a sense, he has shades of a modern-day Houston version of Cee-Lo Green. At risk of sounding too excited after a couple listens, you can form your own opinion via Gifts Ungiven below.
Kidd was originally introduced to Shake via email through a Chris Rockaway-produced cover of the Isley Brothers’ “Voyage To Atlantis.” (This is where the Cee-Lo Green comparison came full circle for me.)
