Emjay Soul, Guano C and Isaac Puerile Chart a Course for the Underground

A new visual from Emjay Soul’s extended Kenny & Friends album cycle brings three of the scene’s more thoughtful operators together on a track that earns repeat listens.

The Kenny & Friends Rollout Continues With CONE 4 CONE

The music video for “CONE 4 CONE” arrives off the back of Kenny & Friends, the 16 track album Emjay Soul released late last year. The project was produced entirely in house and built around collaborations pulled from across the local underground. The deluxe edition, which added six further tracks, landed in April and pushed the campaign into a second phase rather than treating the original release as a one off moment.

The visual for “CONE 4 CONE” feels like another important piece of that larger rollout.

Guano C and Isaac Puerile round out the feature list here, and the chemistry between all three artists gives the track a level of cohesion that mirrors the wider project itself. Nobody feels disconnected from the record’s atmosphere or pacing. The collaboration sounds natural from the opening moments.

Emjay Soul Builds a Soulful Underground Sound on CONE 4 CONE

The production lands first.

Emjay Soul builds the instrumental around a funky plucked synth that carries the low end melody before a bass guitar layers extra depth underneath it. Sustained violin sections hold tension through the build ups while bells, subtle vocal textures, and electric guitar details slowly widen the track’s atmosphere. Once the drums arrive, the groove shifts into something looser and more unpredictable. The patterns feel jerky and slightly off centre in a way that keeps the record moving forward without settling into a comfortable loop.

It leans vintage without sounding nostalgic for the sake of it.

The reference points feel absorbed into the production rather than recreated directly, which gives the track more identity than a lot of retro inspired underground rap currently circulating locally.

The outro strips everything back to its framework. A boom bap style breakdown exposes how many layers Emjay Soul is balancing throughout the track’s runtime and quietly reinforces the production craftsmanship holding the record together.

The Chemistry Between Emjay Soul, Guano C and Isaac Puerile

Guano C opens the track, handling the hook before sliding into verse.

His delivery stays loose and soulful throughout, with emotion sitting inside the phrasing instead of being pushed to the front. There are melodic traces running underneath his bars that complement the instrumental without fighting for attention. The restraint works in the track’s favour because it keeps the mood intact rather than forcing unnecessary peaks.

Isaac Puerile follows with a verse that subtly shifts the energy upward.

He increases the pace slightly and brings a sharper sense of urgency into the second half of the track. His opening run of similes and metaphors quickly folds into longer flowing pockets that move naturally alongside the instrumental’s drift. It is the kind of feature that never needs to announce itself loudly to leave an impression.

Why Kenny & Friends Feels Bigger Than One Release

There is a broader trend visible around Emjay Soul’s Kenny & Friends project that “CONE 4 CONE” sharpens further.

The return of more conscious and alternative sounds within Australian hip hop is not new to observe. What feels different now is the infrastructure slowly forming around it. Producers are anchoring full length projects. Artists from different cities and sub scenes are appearing across each other’s releases more consistently. Smaller underground pockets are starting to feel connected rather than isolated.

A producer building a 16 track album around local collaborations, producing every beat personally, then extending the rollout months later through a deluxe edition and visuals is still not the most common approach locally.

It is also not accidental that the project sounds cohesive because of it.

That level of curatorial control usually produces music with a stronger identity and longer lifespan than algorithm driven single chasing. Kenny & Friends increasingly feels like part of a wider underground network forming in real time rather than a disconnected collection of features.

Emjay Soul’s release cadence across the past six months suggests the Kenny & Friends campaign is still building momentum.

Whether that means more visuals, further collaborations, or another full body of work, the foundation being laid here is worth paying attention to beyond this individual release. “CONE 4 CONE” may be a relatively contained drop within the wider campaign, but it is the kind of track that reveals more with repeat listens.

And in a scene that still rewards discovery over pure algorithm placement, that matters.