Sons of Kemet’s 2018 roar is a jazz-horn charge through black womanhood and British politics. Two drummers, a tuba, and Shabaka Hutchings’ sax never let you catch your breath. Buy the vinyl.
The first time you hear “My Queen Is Ada Eastman” through a proper system, the dual drummers hit you in the chest simultaneously — left channel, right channel, a polyrhythmic fistfight that somehow locks into a groove. That’s Tom Skinner and Eddie Hick doing what they do best: creating a percussive conversation so tight it feels like one mind split across four limbs. And beneath it, Theon Cross’s tuba isn’t playing bass — it’s displacing it. He uses a tuba because it can do what no electric bass can: breathe and grunt at the same time.
This is the album where Shabaka Hutchings stopped being a cult figure and became unavoidable. He wrote these eight tracks as tributes to Black women — historical and contemporary — and titled each one “My Queen Is…” followed by a name. Ada Eastman, Harriet Tubman, Anna Julia Cooper, Yaa Asantewaa. The last track, “My Queen Is Nanny of the Maroons,” closes the statement with an exclamation point. The message isn’t subtle, but the music never becomes didactic. It’s too busy swinging.
The Sound of Two Drummers
Most bands that run two drummers end up with a mess of overlapping fills. Sons of Kemet treat it like a drum line. Skinner and Hick lock into interlocking patterns — Skinner plays the steady pulse, Hick plays the fractures. On “My Queen Is Harriet Tubman,” the hi-hats sound like a snake charmer’s shaker while Cross’s tuba walks a melody that could be a field holler. The effect is hypnotic until Hutchings rips into a solo that sounds like he’s trying to blow the reed through the bell.
Recorded at Hampstead Heath’s Boiler Room? No — this one was tracked at Fishtank Studio in London, with engineer Dilip Harris capturing the room’s natural decay. The bass drum has a thud that doesn’t bloom. The tuba has a warm bloom that doesn’t thud. They occupy the same frequency range without stepping on each other. That’s the mix.
A Political Album That Dances
The title Your Queen Is a Reptile is a direct swipe at the British monarchy — the kind of statement that gets jazz musicians uninvited from festival rosters. Shabaka doesn’t care. He named the album after a line from a poem by activist Leroy New, and the tracks name-check women who built movements. Harriet Tubman. Yaa Asantewaa, the Ghanaian warrior queen. Nanny of the Maroons, who led escaped slaves in Jamaica. The music matches the defiance: aggressive, celebratory, never mournful.
Hutchings’ tenor sax on “My Queen Is Anna Julia Cooper” does something rare — it swings while quoting a melody that feels like a speech. You can hear the syllables. It’s the kind of playing that makes you forget the instrument and hear the voice.
The LP Pressing
The vinyl edition on Impulse! is cut with serious dynamic range. The drums hit hard, the tuba sits deep, and the sax cuts through without piercing. If you’re streaming it, you’re missing the way the low end on “My Queen Is Yaa Asantewaa” opens up the side channels — the tuba walks from left to right while the drums stay centered. That’s the kind of detail that separates a great master from a good digital file.
🎵 Key Takeaways
- Dual drummers hit left and right channels simultaneously.
- Tuba displaces bass by breathing and grunting simultaneously.
- Eight tracks tributing historical and contemporary Black women.
- Skinner plays steady pulse, Hick plays fractures.
- Hi hats on Harriet Tubman track sound like snake charmer's shaker.
- Bass drum thuds without bloom, tuba blooms without thud.
What does the album title 'Your Queen Is a Reptile' mean?
It’s a line from a poem by British activist Leroy New, criticizing the monarchy as cold-blooded and disconnected. Shabaka Hutchings chose it to frame the entire album as a tribute to Black women who built movements instead of thrones.
Is this album jazz or something else?
It’s jazz in the sense that it uses improvisation and a classic horn-fronted lineup, but the rhythmic engine is closer to Afrobeat and Caribbean street music. The dual drummers push it toward math-groove territory. Call it what you want — just turn it up.
Which track should I start with?
'My Queen Is Harriet Tubman.' It opens with a drum roll that sounds like a stampede, then the tuba walks in and the sax starts to preach. It’s the clearest example of the band’s chemistry in under five minutes.