Kumi Hues = Ten Colors & Unlimited Style

If music were a color, Kumi Hues would be as festive as a crayon box. They are as vivid, real and relevant as they are fun. It’s almost a compliment—given the current more-pop-than-punk state of Hip Hop— that the message in their music sometimes gets lost in the melodic genius of an iLL-FLaVa beat. But if you can peel yourself away from bobbing your head long enough to pay attention to what Kumi Hues emcee M.E.R.C. has to say, you’d be lured in by his clever wordplay and lyrical styling, which boasts a touch of his Southern twang. It wasn’t an arbitrary name selection that birthed ‘Kumi Hues,’ but a theory that appropriately defines the style and energy of their tracks.

“Kumi is actually a Swahili word meaning ‘ten,’ and Hues by definition of course is different color attributes. What we wanted to do was mix our African roots with our American culture,” explains iLL-FLaVa.

With music blended by a Florida emcee and a Midwest producer, a Kumi Hues track isn’t representative of either artist’s region, but rather a sound influenced by a range of artists, including Nirvana, Native Tongue, Mos Def, Lauryn Hill, Prince, Sting, J Davey, and Fiona Apple. iLL-FLaVa also explains that he’s influenced by visual art, making the concept of their music being characterized by ten colors even more fitting. M.E.R.C., which is an acronym for Mind Elevation Results in Consciousness, shared with Scheme that he’s inspired to write by Bob Marley, but the outcome is also comparable to OutKast’s eclectic southern flavor and Parliament Funkadelic’s electric sound fused with Prince’s instrumental genius.

Kumi Hues started their official music career off with an EP that catapults Hip-Hop heads into a new dimension of music, one where the harmony between lyricist and beatsmith is unmistakably kismet. After meeting through a musical colleague, iLL-FLaVa and M.E.R.C. teamed up in what would result as a beautiful connection. The Take Off 757-365, which was released last October by Iron Lion Entertainment, was the team’s debut album, and featured tracks that varied in subject matter, but proved that for this duo there’s reason for their rhymes.

The Take Off is only a preface to what Kumi Hues has in store. “We wanna take you higher every day of the year.” M.E.R.C. says of the album that was recorded in his bathroom. Kumi Hues’ debut is so approachable that everyone from the conscious Hip-Hop fan to those who fiend to “Crank that Yank,” can digest their brand.

“Hip-Hop is in a big transition state right now, and everybody is experimenting. The big thing behind us, ultimately as Kumi Hues, is to try to show different sides of music. There’s a little House on there. There’s a little bit of New Wave. Since our name is “Ten Colors,” we want to represent different kinds of music. It’s all about trying to create a different sound for people who don’t normally listen to the kind of Hip-Hop that we do,” Shared Ill.

Rapping over a track built for dance floors, M.E.R.C. says, “Ain’t it funny how they want us to be patriotic/But babies died in the floods and I can’t think about it/’Cause it makes me feel like murderin’ a politician/Put his head in a pot up in my momma’s kitchen/Let us season ‘em up like they would season a buck/Emmett Till ‘em then they stringin’ ‘em up/They think they runnin’ amuck/Got us gunnin’ for bucks/The government’s got gang signs and they throwin’ ‘em up.”

On the same track, titled Supernovacaine, M.E.R.C. explains, “I got a militant theory/That’s why they fear me/So I add a ‘mothafucka’ so the ig’nant niggas hear me.” Disguising political messages with hot hooks, racy language and catchy beats is already a specialty for the rising Kumi Hues, and not even something that many revolutionary emcees have consistently mastered.

While listening to a group as fresh as Kumi Hues, it’s important to understand their foundations. With a father who discouraged him from listening to Hip-Hop in exchange for Jazz, M.E.R.C was formally introduced to music by impromptu quizzes on instruments and their sounds. iLL-FLaVa came from a similar environment, being raised by a father who taught Music Theory. Both artists have a background that reflects in their music an understanding and appreciation of the roots, purpose, and necessity of the most fundamental universal language.

M.E.R.C. can proudly say that his father is now the group’s number one fan.

“The next project is definitely doing to show an evolution of the group from the debut album to the sophomore album. The beats are harder. The lyrics are harder,” M.E.R.C. says of what we can expect from their second release. “Musically, we’re trying to further experiment, like combining things like smooth jazz and drum & bass with a little bit of R&B and soul. We’re trying to take you on a huge adventure,” iLL-FLaVa chimes in. Buckle up y’all.