RoyKinsey is a Chicago artist who first made a splash in the early 2010s, releasing three albums by 2013. He then took some time off and remained quiet until 2018, when he came back with Blackie: A Story By Roy Kinsey. He now follows that up with his most personal album to date, KINSEY: A Memoir.

While Blackie was somewhat outward focused, looking at the recent history of systemic racism in America, KINSEY: A Memoir is a personal tale, examining Kinsey’s own journey as a queer Black artist growing up in Chicago. Over the course of the album, the majority of the production is handled by Wildersee, with additional beats by Lucas Hart, Spoken Thought, Mike Jones, and LPXIV. What immediately grabbed my attention before I even got to Kinsey’s powerful words was the interesting production style across the album. It’s never something that’s easily classified as drill, boom bap, or whatever. It exists in this modern in-between space, where these sharp drum machine beats combine with beautiful soul and jazz to create this really introspective sound, but it also retains an edge to it. This sets the stage for Kinsey perfectly, who really takes not just this album, but his career to the next level with his lyricism. Kinsey pulls of the challenging feat of creating an emotionally charged and personal album without ever giving over to the emotion. He gives you enough information to let you walk in his shoes and see how he learned to navigate different familial and social spaces, how he crafted his identity, and he takes you through the highs and the lows of the journey. In doing so, he never goes too deep on the feeling, because he doesn’t just want this to be an appeal to your emotion, and he doesn’t want people to feel sorry for him. Instead, he balances this personal tale with steps back to look at the bigger picture, and how systemic issues like race and religion affected his journey. While doing all of this, Kinsey also achieves the rare feat of making an album that’s accessible, with some pop hooks that you can sink your teeth into, while also remaining incredibly challenging to his listeners.

KINSEY: A Memoir is a powerful album from a special artist who has really separated himself from the rest of the pack in Chicago. If you haven’t spent the time with him before, don’t worry because this is a great starting point. You really get to know that artist here. And once you do, you’ll want to go back and dig through his entire catalogue.