Dope Ass Conversations #3: Kayo
Or: Allah's Favorite Soldier
You ever have that homie that you’ve been cool with for a minute, but have you have no idea how y’all really became friends? That’s how it is with my guy Kayo. I remember him sending me his music a few years ago while I was still in college and doing song write-ups, so there was always that professional working relationship between us, but I can’t really pinpoint to a specific moment where I was like “yeah, that’s the my guy fr fr.” I just know at some point, our casual conversations shifted from more professional-like to more personal and vulnerable over time.
Those to me are the best types of friendships though because they form so organically in the first place, as opposed to a forced friendship. As both a musician and homie, Kayo is top quality for sure. His raps are just as pure as his heart, and I respect his commitment to being the best that he can be in all aspects of life. Kayo is always the first person to applaud his peers for their accomplishments. Later this year, it’ll be our turn to applaud him as he plans on dropping his long awaited-debut album in the late summer/early fall, which he says will be completely different than any of the music he’s released before.
So before he blows up and forgets me, I figured to tap in with him and chop it up about the stuff we usually talk about in our casual convos: music, Islam, and the dismantling of capitalism.
Q: Who is Kayo?
A: I wish I was more prepared, is that like a simple question or deep one? (laughs). I know that Kayo is first and foremost an artist. A Black artist, a Muslim artist, a Chicago artist, or Chicago rapper more specifically. But the deep philosophical answer is I think I am, or he is if we’re talking in third person, is an artist who’s a little bit different than the rest in terms of values, principles, moral competence, like moral guidance, all of those things. I think I'm somebody who has the intentions with my art and with whatever fruits of that art, like whatever benefits should come from that. I think I have the purpose and I have the willingness, not even just the purpose, but the willingness, to change the landscape not only for artists, but for people in general in a really major way. So that's who Kayo is.
When did you start making music? Who are your role models/influences?
I started writing in third or fourth grade. I'll say that I probably didn't get musical or going into studio sessions and stuff until sixth grade. But I was writing poetry then I was writing raps, I just didn't have anywhere to record them. So I was just writing them and I would just like rap them acapella. Funny story, for my first ever project, I was the biggest J. Cole fan since The Come Up. And my very first project I took his his Friday Night Lights or Warm Up project, I forgot which one but one of those two. I took that and I rapped over like almost all of those beats and I just called it my project. Like all of them were the exact same beats and titles and concepts just with my words. So Cole is an influence of course. Drake of course. Kanye West goes without saying. Frank Ocean… My new influences are Tyler, The Creator and Brent Faiyaz. I been in love with them lately, like their whole aesthetic and sound.
How long have you been working on your debut album?
A while. This album has existed in three different realities. Like this is the third one that exists and I think that this existence is going to be the one to drop and like touch road, but this has been like four years probably. Like I had the idea for the title four years ago. I made an album to it in no time, probably took like two weeks tops, which is probably why I wasn't in love with it because I rushed it and I scrapped the whole thing. Like I had done like almost submitted it to streaming services, like done done. I even did post production like I had musicians coming in and adding stuff, That was one version. Then I did another version during the pandemic and scrapped that one, and I had Billy Blunt, an amazing musician shout out Billy Blunt. I had him go over that whole thing with guitars and like pianos and stuff. So that was another one that was all the way done that I scrapped. So all together it's probably been about four years. This current phase that I'm in has been about six months for this current version of this album, but it's literally the exact same title and concept from four years ago.
What should people expect from your debut?
It’s a story about me. It’s a story about mental health. It’s a story about dark tales and some dark experiences I had. It has some very haunting chords, very synthy kinda sounds, some real dark drums. Don’t go into this expecting single Kayo or harmony Kayo. It’s dark a lot of points with a few bright points because that’s life. It’s like a roller coaster, you go through bad things, you go through good things. From this, just expect me to tell my story. That’s all I can say right now… The next time you hear from me will be the single for the album.
How do you decide whether or not a project is ready to be released?
Feelings, bro. That feeling gonna tell you everything you need to know. If you press play on it, and it doesn't give you chills off the first listen, it's not the one. Especially as a debut project… I'm 23 years old. This is 23 years of built up anger, frustration, happiness, joy, love, life, hate, like all of these 23 years worth inside of one project. So you know it's not the one when we're playing it and it just doesn't give you that feeling or emotion. It's hard to describe but anybody that's a creator out there, they know what I'm talking about. Also, on a little bit like on the less serious side of things, I tell people all the time, when you're nervous to play something around people, it’s not the one. Scrap it, I don't care how you feel about it or what your emotional ties to it is scrap scrap scrap it's not the one. This one I'm on right now, I’ll give n—s that and say you could shuffle the whole project. You could play it from front to back, back to front, start from the middle and go backwards, play it however you want. It's a slapper regardless. So that's how you know.
What's been the biggest obstacle that you've overcome so far in your career?
Myself. Self doubt. I have projects done, I have singles done, video shoots done, photoshoots done and I just be like ‘nah, it's not the greatest.’ You know, like my sole purpose in this is to be the greatest and to be better than everybody, or it was my sole purpose. And it's like that blocked me so much because like now it’s “nah, just be better than you.”
What's a piece of advice that you would tell to yourself when you started making music seriously?
Let the clip go. Like you could drop a song a day and nobody cares if one of those songs are bad. Nobody cares if 99 of those songs are bad. Once you get that one good song like nobody thinks about the 100 bad songs. You know I'm saying? Like you can't name every T-Pain song in the world, you can’t. I’ll give a billion dollars right now if you could. You can only name the hits. You know what I'm saying? Like once you drop like nobody's thinking about all that other shit, bro. So like, let the clip go. That's the exact sentence I would say. Let the clip go. Nobody cares until they do.
How important is your team?
I don’t exist without them. We all feed off of each other. We all give each other ideas. I make songs based off the stories that my mans went through. He makes songs based off of stories that I went through. That's step one: community, making sure that everybody is on the same page. You don't got to like everybody, please be clear. I don't like all the shit that's on Twitter and on Instagram. A lot of it is wack, like a lot. But for the ones that I do pick up and the ones that I do support, it's important. Like it's part of who I am and it should be a part of who you are. All the people that have lasted to make it decades, plural, they have those successors. Jay had Kanye, he had J. Cole. Wayne had two of biggest mega-stars of all time [in Drake and Nicki]. You gotta have people around you… THRD has the vision, Elijah [LeFlore] has the vision, everyone close to me has got it and we know how to do it. Just give us a chance.
You have a line in your song “Hidden Hills” where you say “I’m anti-capitalist, but I capitalize every time for real.” How do we dismantle capitalism?
This is tough, I be having these thoughts to myself all the time. I feel like Hov, he has this story behind this line “I’m Che Guevara with bling on, I’m complex.” The story is he was wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt and a reporter asked him how can he rep someone like Che Guevara and still be like the hip-hop figure face for capitalism and he was basically like, “I’m complex.” He was like I do have these dreams of freeing everybody, but I also come from a place of poverty with conditions worse than the people asking me these dumb questions right now. You get that chance to get out, it’s like of course I’m gonna buy that million dollar watch. Is it dumb? Yeah, but I can do it now so why wouldn’t I go do it now. So that line has been heavy on my mind lately, “I’m Che Guevara with bling on, I’m complex…” I'm so on board with dismantling capitalism to the fullest extent and I think that Black people, Hispanic people, I don’t really like the term POC, but any people of color really need to get on board too. I think that we could never be free until capitalism is dismantled. And I think that the solution isn't making us capitalists and finding new Black and colored figure faces for capitalism. Like you still getting oppressed, you just oppressed by someone who looks like you. So it's hard. You know, like the duality of man and I try to juggle them both. I feel like I forgot the question, but I know it has something to do with capitalism.
I asked how do we dismantle capitalism.
If I had to give one sentence, it would be to stop being a cog in the machine. Which again is hard but the goal is to stop adding to it. I can’t dismantle capitalism and make it a point to make sure the album release party is at Soho House, like it’s dumb. I can’t sit there with these anti-capitalism bars and be like, “yerrr, album release party at Soho House gang, pull up.” It’s dumb. Now also, that may not be your intention because there’s a lot of n—s that don’t care. BUT, if that is your intention, you gotta make sure you’re doing those small things.
Earlier, you mentioned off rip that you're a Muslim rapper. We're in the holy month of Ramadan right now, so just describe your relationship with Islam and how does that play into your music?
It's funny bro cuz it's like a gift and a curse. But it's more so a gift. Actually, I'm not even going to say a curse because sometimes the satanic side of wants to come out [in the music] but that Islamic side won't let it so that's not a curse. That’s really a blessing. But there's times where I want to do verses and say something a little ratchet. Everybody that knows my music knows I’m not some righteous corny type. Like, I don't do that at all. Like I talk my talk, but sometimes I want to really, really like really, really go left and I just can't. But other than that, bro, it's a beautiful relationship with Islam, and more specifically, Allah. I go into the studio or I go into my room and I pull my journal out, and it’s like you can just feel Allah just taking over your spirit. I did this freestyle a while back during a pandemic maybe two years ago called “Pennies and Gold,” and I tell people all the time, I didn't know anything that I was talking about. Like it was just flowing, and I was just writing and writing and writing and it took all of seven minutes to write that two minute long verse. I didn't even notice I said a bar about Paul [The Apostle] and I've never read the Bible in my life, like I had no clue who Paul was. I looked it up after the fact and it was perfect to who he was in the scripture. From that standpoint, I always say I'm Allah’s favorite soldier. I don't care what y’all talking about. Like He keeps me good bro. He loves me and I love Him.
What are your intentions for this year’s Ramadan?
I want to find peace. These last few months I've been like really not at peace. Not like a depressed state but just like anxious. Anxious to drop the project, anxious to just like go on tour, to do these shows, to do all these things, I just been really really anxious. So from this Ramadan I'm hoping that my existence is surrounded by just being joyful about all that exists… I'm just trying to just be peaceful and content. And I think that artists, we have a hard time being content because it's always what's next. But I just want to be content this month and just be like, man, this is peaceful. I'm happy, joyous. I got food every day and good food too, like not scraps, like really good food. My bills are paid, I live in a nice place. I’m just being content, man, just being grateful. All praises due to Allah.
(Q&A slightly edited and condensed for continuity and clarity)
Be sure to follow Kayo @kayosouthside on IG and Twitter to stay up to date on all his future releases.
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