PREMIERE: Kaniva – INIT [@KanivaOH]

Kaniva quickly follows up his 2 EP with the video to his latest track ‘INIT’.

On ‘INIT’ we see Kaniva flex his skills and as confident as ever whilst also narrating elements of his journey. But things haven’t always been smooth for the South London MC. In fact, he has had a far from easy journey since his brave decision to drop out of university to pursue his career in music. After having left higher education, Kaniva has had real highs with him touring with Big Narstie, opening for Snoop Dogg and headlining iLuvlive but also the real low of having a period of homelessness. Yet despite this, he has consistently put out music and was even one of the first artists to be signed to GRM Daily‘s label.

On ‘INIT’ we get a Grime-like delivery from the MC over production that feels much closer to Trap than anything else. With that Kaniva ends up having a canvas to work over that actually separates him from any of his contemporaries leading to the track sounding extremely refreshing amongst the current climate. Whilst I have mentioned that it feels closer to Trap, there are clear notes of Grime running throughout the production and these two genres in tandem could be another factor in what makes the track stand out. Kaniva tackles the production well providing slick wordplay and a variety of flows alongside the catchy and easy to pick up hook.

Visually things are kept relatively simple with Kaniva chilling around his area alongside some friends. There does seem to be some nods to the late Cadet both in one of the flows on the track but also in one of the outfits Kaniva wears. This is only heightened by the cameo from Seejay100 who was close friends with Cadet. Besides that, there’s not much more to say about the visuals besides that the quality and smoothness across the videography and editing were excellent.

All in all ‘INIT’ delivers a great fresh offering from Kaniva and a track that is sure to go off at shows and festivals once they resume as normal.

You can pre-save/listen to ‘INIT’ on streaming platforms here.