ZENtheRapper / Donte Winslow 02/20/25

“Song so hard that you thought it was the remix”

• from “Be With You” (Track 2)

With his newest worldwide release, a project aptly named “Understanding – EP,” King Cooper gives his personal spin on the timeless love story. His version– though much longer than many modern couplings — tells the grade-school sweetheart story of a 24-year-old rapper, offered here in a digestible, four-song, sub-10-minute retelling.

On a surface listen, you will be able to appreciate Cooper’s interesting and agreeable flows. You will feel the burning, screeching, whirring, 2000’s/2010’s, pop/grunge styled nostalgia that ushers you through this fifteen year (or so) long tale. Your head will begin to bob almost imperceptibly. And when you notice it, and play the project back a couple times in response, you will be rewarded. Rewarded with a story crafted with a certain attention to detail — one up to the task of the project’s ambitious theme of Love.

INTRO

This story starts on a contemplative note. In “Intro,” Cooper sets up a clever scheme with the root word “stand” that serves to anchor his drifting thoughts as he speaks on trying to find balance – and sanity, even – between understanding and the endurance of difficulty (Can you stand the rain?).

BE WITH YOU

On track 2, “Be With You,” Cooper pumps us up a little bit. This one feels like a sock hop dance… It almost feels like a peek into how Cooper may have met his lady as a grade schooler, colored by the litany of much-more-adult outings they have had since then. It features strong, wild emotions — wild in a way that sometimes feels like adolescent angst, and in a way that other times feels like a mortal man reaching for heavenly sentiments. All experienced at an archetypal school dance setting.

Now that we’re dancing under the discolight with eternal love in our hearts, and reciprocated longing in our eyes, Cooper decides it’s time to take a turn towards the serious, towards the necessary, towards those conversations that no one really likes to have but are necessary for the development of healthy relationships.

REAL LOVE

“Her love is on demand

Her love is so demanding

Together holding hands

Real Love is understanding”

With this one, Cooper comments on the worthwhile difficulty involved in getting to know a woman and learning how to love her. His voice here is mature, considering where his lady lies in his list of priorities, and trying to express a love and an understanding that transcends his loyalty even to planet earth.

LOVE STORY

I love “Love Story.” This is the track where all the narrative buildup pays off in a really satisfying fashion. Cooper goes into a purer “storyteller” mode (as opposed to the flashback or time-traveler mode he assumes to this point) to wrap things up and leave things clear for the listener. Here, we get the historical details of Cooper’s love affair, as he prepares now to make this woman his wife.

“I met this little lady, when I was a little man

I was bout 12, we both was close to 10”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Cooper has learned things about love by loving his woman. And he shares them with us here with some style and vulnerability. Love is complex. Understanding – EP indicates that it requires compromise, growth, maturity… understanding. His vantage point, casting back as a young man with a long experience loving, boosts the credibility and particular interests of these insights. I think King Cooper has a future with these moods and storytelling techniques, with his wife-to-be, and with his fans.

Thank you for Reading! Listen to Understanding EP on Soundcloud, YouTube, or Spotify! It’s available on all major digital streaming platforms 🙂

ZENtheRapper / Donte Winslow is a holistic musical storyteller who listens deeply, feels expansively, and writes with an eye for both the technical craft and the emotional arc of the work. My style is rooted in respect for the artist’s journey and a desire to enrich the audience’s listening experience through layered storytelling.