rap was something that just happened to her. keny arkana was only twelve when she started writing her first lyrics. her first contacts with the record business came in 2005. but even before she infiltrated the matrix, keny released her first opus, l’esquisse, a fast and furious street album containing the hit “le missile est lancé” produced by tefa & masta as well as “de l’opéra à la plaine”, a gargantuan freestyle track by twenty writers born and bred on the streets of marseilles. 12 years after l’esquisse and 6 years after l’esquisse 2, keny releases l’esquisse 3. a spontaneous, creative, sincere, energetic and meaningful record, with powerful rhythmic and precise arrangements. even though the record has a mixtape appearance, it hasn’t been a botched job, as evidenced by its complex structure and harmony: musical interludes around the four elements, true rap anthems like “couleur molotov” or “lejos” and contemporary hits like “abracadabra” or “freestyle beatbox” with beatboxer tressym for an instrumental. both dark in its lyrics and lively in its energy, keny’s mixtape l’esquisse 3 reveals again an artist just as we could dream in 2017: clear-sighted, offensive, touching and inspired. dear she’s been missed!
double vinyl in gatefold sleeve, cd-copy of the full album included.