Kayo

0:06Hey, this is K-O and you're watching MSN exclusive video. Thank you. Thank you. You want to talk about it a little bit? Man, shooting that video was really crazy because we started, I had just come back from Edmonton. We started at like six in the morning. It was pouring rain the whole day, but it kind of just gave it that vibe that it needed.

0:52You know what I mean? So it was a great experience shooting it, writing the song itself. Like we had that song for a good year and a half before we ever really put it out. We put a lot of work into the mix. We must have did like 20, 25 different mixes before we were really happy with the sound. And it really is like the catalyst for the whole project. I feel like it's more beat type. It's a good video. Yeah. If that had to be the very first thing anyone ever saw or heard of for me, this would be what I wanted it to be. For sure. Yeah. When you said we, who's we? Well as far as I'm concerned, I'm a collective. I wouldn't be nowhere without my producer, Yogi. I'd be nowhere without Black Box, without class, with all these people that really contributed to the project that we put out. So I really have this habit of like just making it a collective success for everybody.

1:37So what's a collective like that? Are they helping you with words? Are you whiteboarding or blackboarding words and choosing and having everyone kind of have a say or something? Yeah. As far as the lyrics are concerned, it's more so me. But as far as like the direction of the project, the production, the overall campaign that follows the music, that's a collective. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Do rhymes influence beats typically? Or do I have a question with people artists? Yeah. Do the beats influence the rhyme? Well me beats influence the rhyme. And I'm very, I'm really... Do you need to hear it first before you write it? I got to hear it before I write the song. Sometimes like I'll be at a show or whatever and a certain melody catches me and I'll start like just jotting out different things. And then like with myself and Yogi, the guy who produced most of this project, we have a cool relationship where I could go in, I could tell him what kind of vibe I'm feeling.

2:25And he's very like, he has a classical musical background. So he knows what certain melodies and certain chords evoke certain emotions. So once I express what it is, I want to express in the music, he'll be able to translate that. Oh, that's interesting. And I mean it goes all over the place. I'm so bad with titles but I know in order I know that track three is very jazzy. Rich already. No, no, so the one before it's slave. Slave, yeah. And then anybody got their pop song. Yeah. So you got to end obviously hip hop all over the place. Yeah. And everything's hip hop even though it's two or hip hop influence. Yeah. But there's a real mix of music. Yeah. And I think it's a lot of influences. So talking about wanting to craft a record where every track is literally their own genre almost. And you know what? That kind of happened by accident. Like we didn't really set out to say, okay, we want to cover all bases. Originally, this project itself was influenced or inspired by just the frustration it all

3:14was feeling just as a struggling artist, like trying to come up outside into a major label. I just struggled to find my fitting in that building, like just trying to get everyone to take me seriously. I just came, it was a real like dark and frustrating time for me. And the music was supposed to reflect that darkness and throughout that darkness, some sort of light comes from it, you know what I mean? But we didn't really set out and be like, okay, we need to make this song. We need to make that song. We need to make one joint for the ladies and none of that. We just kind of just kind of created and you know, in a way, this project kind of made itself. And so what happens from here? Now that you've been on the road for a little while. Yeah. Where does this project take you? We're just going to take you. I hope it takes me to that next platform that I need to be at. Which is why.

4:00It's an interesting question. It's hard to say because as an artist, like you never really know, everyone kind of has their own lane, everyone knows, has a different story to tell. And sometimes their story takes them different places. But I do know that I'm not quite where I need to be at. But this will hopefully, you know, open those doors for me. I hope people, a lot more people are aware of what it is that I do. What's good too is that like with the touring, I was able to bring my keyboard player. I was able to bring my own DJ. And we really crafted what I want the people to see as far as a live show. And the live show is really key for me as well. So like the overall project, I couldn't be happier with it. And I want, I want it, you know, to grow from there. Are you getting more comfortable with being on stage now that you're on tour more?

4:46Yeah. Yeah. I've been doing it for two, three years, have you been riding it? Yeah, it's been like, this is probably like my seventh tour in three years. It's crazy. Yeah. So like getting used to life on the road is a different lifestyle than anything. It's a really wild-eyed zone. Yeah. It's crazy. But this one is even like, this one is a new experience for me too. Because like it's just three of us on a road, we just rented a car and we're just driving across the country, just grind it. You know, it's like, it's different. Sometimes it's hard, like a lot of sleepless nights. We had one night where we had to like drive from Edmonton to Saskatoon to do an interview in the morning. We drove from Winnipeg to Toronto, like the full 24 hours. It's a fun one. Never doing that again. Never. But yeah man, it's just been dope. It's been an interesting experience for you. You're on the road with Charlie from, I still say from Jurassic 5, but I guess he's not

5:33anymore. It has been for a while. So that takes me to Brad with my cinematographer, starting an old school new school, the classified team that you did. You go back and forth talking about your fun. So was Jurassic 5 more yours or more his? Or does it sit right in the middle and does it bridge the gap? It bridges the gap a little bit as far as I'm concerned because I kind of like try to study the game. Me being as like an art, like it was a little bit before my generation. The whole Jurassic 5 thing, you know what I mean? But I try to study the game. And what's interesting is that seeing him perform live, it's almost like what we're doing right now or what we're aspiring to do is exactly what he's doing. Like the melodies and his music, the reggae and his music, just the whole vibe, it's really similar to where it is that I want to see my life. You want to drop your voice if you want to start?

6:19Not quite there yet. But like it's just, it's dope. But I'd say that was like definitely bridging the gap. Funny you talked about old school, new school is because I did the hangover on classes, hand shakes the middle finger and I also did the old school, new school. And if you notice that like the hangover is really like my sound. And I kind of brought that to the table in terms of like the inspiration for that song. And then with old school, new school, it's more like he came to me with that idea and then we built on that. So it's dope that we got to kind of delve into both of our own separate worlds to create something like that. It sounded like it would have been a fun song to work on too. Just going back and forth trying to figure out those words. Yeah, it was dope because I'd never like written with an artist like that. Like just sat there. We just mostly came up with the lyrics like on the fly there in the studio.

7:06We reworked a couple lyrics here and there when we got back into it. It was just like just so much fun. Even just clowning each other. You know what I mean? I know you got to drive to Ottawa. I'll talk about driving across the country back and forth. There's something called five questions but I get to do six questions with rappers because I get to turn another one in there. I'm with it. Rode or studio? Can I say both? You can. That's a cheap answer. I think someone said both yesterday too. So I'll let you go with both of them. Yeah. But both of them have their vibe. And I'll be home in the studio creating as much as I can. I'm the type of dude where I'll try to do a lot of songs and then go back and work on the ones that I really feel that need to be built on. And then once I'm done with the recording process I can't wait to hit the road. But then once I hit the road, if I'm out for like a month, two months, you just draw so much

7:54inspiration from meeting different people and seeing all these different things and you can't wait to go back to the studio. So that we're right now? That's what I'm at right now. Yeah. Especially I have a yogi there too. We've been listening to a lot of different songs, just trying to draw inspiration and just take it all in. You know what I mean? So I can't wait to go back to work. I know we just put this project out but I'm ready to get back to the record. That's 10 songs. That's a record. Yeah. You know what it is? I think we kind of... Because I want my first album to be... I know what I want it to be. I want it to be timeless. I want it to be timeless. You know what I mean? Not that this isn't, not to discredit this project at all. But I know what my album to be called and what I want it to sound like. I know who I want to be involved in it. So until I'm at that point, I'm not going to put out an album.

8:39Fair enough. So how far are you from that point? Is it getting there? The album's done. I'm just waiting for the right time. I gotcha. Cool. Landon or McCartney? Coming up? Landon or McCartney. What's the part of me? Parker Biggie. Ahh, Pac. Always been a Pac man. It's the emotion, the passion and the music. Like, yeah. Cool. You got to be the studio 24 hours. Yeah. So, you know, when you hear a song, it usually hits you first. Lyrics, melody or rhythm? Mmm. I think melody. Cool. Yeah. If someone's never heard KO before, what song do they start with? Don't bring me down. Nice. That's why we started today though. There you go. In one word, KO. Kill anything you're on. That's why it left my little abbreviation for it. But um, now. Kind of violent. It's a little violent, isn't it?

9:25Yeah. I got to stop that. For first thing in the morning. Yeah. I know. I heard it yesterday. It did. Something with murder in it, right? It's young murder. Young murder. That was a huge Joel fan. Um, that's unfortunate. I just can't. I just can't. I just can't. I just can't. I still love that guy. Um, love, man. Just, just love. Real shit. I just enjoy spreading that love. Nice man. Thank you very much. Oh.