K-RYSmatique

Things are getting serious for Krys, who dives into the deep end with the release of his first album, "K-RYSmatique". The Guadeloupean toaster is thus taking the big leap, not without having first tested the water with the excellent 10-track maxi "Limé mic-la" (switch on the mic), released at the end of 2004. Unlike "Limé mic-la", "K-RYSmatique" goes for quantity (18 tracks), but not necessarily for quality. And the disappointments are not necessarily where you might have expected them. It is in fact in Krys's preferred style, dancehall, that the album falls short. Firstly because the riddims are not always well chosen and often fall down on finish, like Mad, overloaded and too fast. Then because Krys's lyrics, very focused on women (nothing wrong with that, in itself), often lack depth: "one woman alone means weariness" (Dangereuse), or "we're the jet set, in caps and trainers" (Tenue correcte exigée). Let us nonetheless point out two quality dancehall tracks, K.R.Y.S and Gunz up, driven by his vocal delivery and his furious style.

Krys wanted to mix genres. Apart from the rap of Argent propre argent sale, in a duet with Sefyu (a rapper from Aulnay-sous-Bois), which should please fans of the genre, the Guadeloupean set about bringing a roots touch to his album. We would have liked to hear more reggae tracks of the calibre of Pardonne leur, a denunciation (in French) of the current excesses of Western governments, and Neg (in Creole). The tracks Avec le temps, Infidèle (with Auria), Robey a charlotte (salsa, Creole vocals and percussion) and the excellent Ka Fè fwet (it's cold) in a duet with the zouk singer Princess Lover offer a little freshness to an album that badly needed it.

Krys has often been compared to his elder Admiral T, and with the almost simultaneous release of their respective albums, the resemblance between the two voices is even more striking. But the comparison stops there: for all his talent, Krys does not yet have the maturity or the charisma of Admiral T, and the album title therefore seems badly chosen. But at only 22, Krys still has plenty of good days ahead of him.