Ink

Royce Diamond may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of Kansas City hip hop. And it’s almost criminally easy to hype up someone as the next big thing.

But if his new album, Aficionado, is any indicator, or if you judge a musician’s worth by how long his or her song stays in your head, the KCK rapper/producer is headed for some big things.

Aficionado is an explosive mixture of confessional and often deeply personal lyrics on top of eclectic beats united by smooth, solid and subtle production. No surprise, as Diamond is a graduate of the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences and was an understudy to Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer Jeff Poe.

His prowess is on display on both sides of the microphone.

First, the vocals: His lyrical flow ranges from boastful on his introduction track, “Get Used to It” (announcing his intentions: “You ain’t heard of me before, get used to it”) to a confessional mediation on love and loss on “4 Years Strong,” before closing the album with a more personal apology/appreciation to his mother. He also sprinkles in a few getting-it-on songs like “Fallin’ in Love” and “Ghetto Love.”

But the highlight on Aficionado is the musical arrangement. It’s so simple (often only a beat, a sample, backup vocals and the lead vocals), but eclectic (old-school harmonies, spoken-word samples, acoustic guitars). For example: “Gold” is a high-energy song out of the Kanye West mold about gold-diggin’ broads and relies on an acoustic-guitar hook, while the next track, “Fallen’ in Love,” sounds like an old-school Bone Thugs-n-Harmony love-song jam that relies on a simple female vocal sample with a funk-based beat.

The album is always pushing forward and exploring some new avenue. It never plods along or gets bogged down.

Whether you’re looking for a club-worthy bounce track, an angry I-used-to-love-her song or an old-school jam, Royce Diamond’s Aficionado has it all. And I guarantee, at the very least, you’ll be humming his hooks hours after you’re done listening.