Young Kingz II

When Casyo “Krept” Johnson and Karl “Konan” Wilson released mixtape *Young Kingz* in 2013, it set a Guinness World Record for the highest-charting album by an unsigned act. By 2015, their full debut *The Long Way Home* saw them collaborating with Ed Sheeran, Skepta, and Wiz Khalifa. Ten years later, the Croydon rap duo, who met when they were teenagers, evolve further with *Young Kingz II*, a raw and reflective album full of playful lyrics and emotional moments. “There’s so much to talk about, so the album’s developed over a few years,” Krept tells Apple Music. “Things have changed and lots has happened and we want to document it all. We just create whatever feels natural at the time and then you have the process of having to narrow it down, thinking, ‘What flows through the album? What makes the most sense?’” Krept & Konan are keen to uplift those around them, whether it’s new artists or their local community: Shortly before the release of *Young Kingz II*, they opened their own supermarket, Saveways, to create jobs in Croydon and bring a diverse range of affordable food to people. It’s an inspiring attitude and standing up for others is something the duo wanted to continue on *Young Kingz II*. “Having a voice for people, our friends that are in situations, is important,” says Konan. “We just want people to feel human after they’ve listened to the album and realize we’ve all got different emotions, which we’ve tried to tap into here. We want to take you on a journey. I think this album is like going back to the essence of Krept & Konan, how a lot of people first heard of us. So the origin of the hunger and trying to make it in the scene and breaking out of the doors, but now we’re in a new chapter.” The 18 tracks were recorded in London, Hertfordshire, and Jamaica and encompass many different styles, plus collaborations with Ghetts, Chip, and Popcaan, so it’s a journey with plenty of ups, downs, and beats that go off. Read on as the duo talks Apple Music through 10 key tracks. **“100 Mistakes” (Konan Solo)** Konan: “This song is like a psychotherapy session. I’m talking to myself about everything that’s going on, realizing who I am and being open. Hopefully, it helps other artists coming up to hear that after everything we’ve done, we still feel like this. All we do as artists, and you might get those flowers, but you can’t always rely on other people to give them to you, so you’ve just got to do it for yourself. I feel like it sets the tone for the album—people will know we’re going to be talking about some real stuff and there’s going to be a lot of reflecting.” **“Low Vibrations”** Krept: “‘Low Vibrations’ is a track that is exactly what it says on the tin. We don’t want anyone to come around here with the low vibrations. You can see that vibe in the video, where we’re with our friends celebrating. Everyone around us was having fun. In this life and in this industry, there are a lot of things that can be negative, so we just wanted to create that song that makes you feel good. It felt like that was needed. We’re coming out of our ring with no bad vibe and no bad energy.” **“How Many Times”** Krept: “It’s a song for the mandem and it’s got a laid-back, cool vibe. You’ll not really hear me on a song like that, so it was good to try it. It’s simple, there’s not too much going on with the beat in terms of the drum snares and hi-hats. It just feels so relaxing because it’s something that I don’t usually do, and I feel like I’ve done it well on that song. We’re always open to just trying things out on songs and there might be some stuff that will never see the light of day.” **“Bedroom” (feat. Sizzla)** Konan: “‘Bedroom’ was a wild card, to be fair. And then for the beat, we were just thinking about who we could collaborate with that would make it sound different. And Sizzla came to mind. It was gold from there. When we make songs, it’s not forced—we just make the music and it’s like the album creates itself.” Krept: “People are not going to be expecting that from Sizzla when they hear it, which makes the song quite special.” **“Nala’s Song” (Krept Solo)** Krept: “This song is so important for me because I’d love my daughter, Nala, to have something of me. She can always go back and listen to some words from her dad. Music is something I love and always will love, so being able to give that to my daughter in hard form forever and actually giving her life lessons and some gems is special—I wish someone had done it for me when I was younger. Now when I play it to her, she knows the ‘baby girl’ line, but as she grows older, she’ll understand how deep the song is. I’m also appreciating her mum \[health and beauty influencer Sasha Ellese\], who’s carried my child into this world on that journey that us men didn’t have to go through.” **“Delroy’s Son” (Konan Solo)** Konan: “This song’s about my dad \[late reggae star Delroy Wilson\]. It was a difficult one, so I wrote it in parts. When I listen back, I do get a bit choked up. I had a lot to get off my chest, but being transparent in the music, especially on a song like that, is important. There’s a line in there about when were playing one of our shows at Brixton Academy and, just as we were going on stage my mum said, ‘The last time I was here, your dad was on.’ It’s a sick experience to perform in the same place as my dad. With the hardships of the industry, I feel like he didn’t get his flowers. But now it feels like I’m completing my dad’s work.” **“Kilimanjaro” (feat. Oxlade)** Konan: “This was the last song we made and it feels like what was missing from the project. We needed that ‘G Love’ or ‘Freak of the Week’ kind of vibe. I shouted a couple of producers saying, ‘Just send me beats,’ then I was like, ‘This is the one.’ Once we’d got the beats, I was thinking about who could deliver what we wanted and I couldn’t come up with anything myself, so I shouted Oxlade. He was on tour at the time, so we messaged on Instagram and exchanged numbers and he filmed himself singing it and, as he was playing it in the background, he was smiling and saying, ‘This is a hit.’ And I was like, ‘Say no more.’” **“Smooth Lovin” (feat. Popcaan)** Konan: “‘Smooth Lovin’ is one of the first songs that we had for the album. We’d already done a song with Popcaan \[‘Freak of the Week (Remix)’\], which was a bit more street. As soon as we started the album I said, ‘Yo, I need another one, bro.’ We had the beats for a while, trying to figure out who we wanted to do the song with, and Popcaan helped to make it something more light-hearted and more summery with that Caribbean feel.” **“Rage” (feat. Ghetts)** Krept: “‘Rage’ was done in stages. We already had the beat and we were working on it at Geejam Studios in Jamaica. It’s one of those beats that just makes you want to go crazy. It was like, ‘Who else could we get on this that is able to come with this much venom?’ Ghetts was the perfect person for it. So we sent him the song, and straightaway he made his verse. He sent the video back to me and you know when you screw up your face like, ‘Yeah’? That’s how the song came about, and everybody just went crazy on the beat.” **“Last Cards” (feat. Michael Ward)** Konan: “‘Last Cards’ was originally meant to be the title of the album because, when we were making it, we thought it would be the last one on the label. That was the concept behind it. And then we ended up getting out of that situation into a new situation \[*Young Kingz II* is on Krept & Konan’s own label, Play Dirty\]. Then we didn’t want to confuse people and make them think, ‘Ah, it’s their last album ever.’ It just happened to be the 10-year anniversary of *Young Kingz*. It made more sense, like a full-circle moment.” Krept: “You know we’re not the youngest kings, we scratched out the young on the artwork because we’ve \[been through\] a lot of maturity and growth in the last 10 years. But I think what we’ve done in this space and time, respectfully I feel like we can call ourselves kings.”

Young Kingz II, the long-awaited second album from Krept & Konan, lives up to the promise of their debut.

The south London rappers’ frankness and sharp wordplay puts their rivals to shame on studio album No 4