Features
Exclusive Interview with Krizz Kaliko
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Deft Magazine caught up with Krizz Kaliko during his first solo tour of the southwest. He schooled us on his Tour, social consciousness in hip hop, and his latest album, Genius.Let’s talk about your new album Genius, a very diverse album with a ton of different influences and genres incorporated into the sound. Going into the studio for your second solo album, was their a gameplan or particular way you wanted to attack Genius?
Yeah, absolutely man. I knew I wanted the album to be called Genius. So, I was like, if you make an album with that title, you have got to live up to it. And to me, when I think of musical geniuses, and I mean there are musical geniuses in all these different genres of music – country, rap, blues, rock, you know, R&B everything. So, I figured, if I was going to call my album Genius, I needed to try and combine the geniuses. The genius thought process behind all those types of music. And because I am very experimental with music, I knew that I could pull it off, man. So it was a method behind the madness, there was a theme, which was just I wanted everything, every song to crush – all killer no filler you know what I’m saying? I wanted it to all be killer joints; I wanted it to all sound like it could be singles – every song a single in its own right.
You’ve been doing stuff with Tech for years now, but as far as solo albums this was only your second project. Did you find the production phase easier the second time around when compared to your first album? When an artist goes into the studio, does it get easier every time or is it always a challenge?
No, it’s always a challenge. The first album (Vitiligo) was a challenge because I had never really had to do an album on my own. Vitiligo, you know I had never had to do anything on my own, so it was just a challenge to do my own album and try to make it good. The second album, the challenge was I gotta crush Vitiligo. It’s gotta be better. And even now, I got a new album coming out September 14th, called Shock Treatment. It’s gotta be better than Genius. Genius is so good to me, man…that I’m like, ‘How do I top that?’ So that’s the new challenge.
So every time in the studio it’s like a ladder, per say. You want to outdo what you did the time before?
Yeah, if you call yourself an elite artist, then yeah. You need to elevate. Any artist, no matter what you do, you need to elevate at all times. If you’re not trying to get better, because the music industry is fical, so you gotta be moving with the times, you know what I’m sayin? It’s so time sensitive, music is. Some music is timeless, but, you gotta be on top of your game, man…so much. You know what I’m saying? That’s the challenge, trying to stay abreast of what’s going on, what they’re talking about, what’s interesting for our fans as well as trying to gain new ones.
When you’re in the studio, how do you attack things creatively? Do you go in with the songs and the lyrics, do you start with the beat, or does it differ from song to song?
It differs, but for the most part, I start with the beat. And that can be, buying the beat from a producer or that can be co-producing and creating a beat with a producer – which is something that I do a lot with a producer Tech and I both use, his name is Michael “Seven” Sommers, sounds like a serial killer (laughs). But uh, yeah, I produced “Misunderstood” with him, and “Hum Drum” these are both on Genius. We’re actually producing some stuff right now…and “Peak-A-Boo” on my first album, it goes on and on. “The Bidness,” on my first album. So, it starts with the beat. Tech says it a lot and says it the best way – ‘The beat is the pulse, if you have no pulse you have no life.’ So the beat is the pulse, and then the second most important thing is the hook. So that’s why I go beat, then I go hook, and then I build the song around it. The whole concept is what the hook is created off of, you know what I’m saying? And hooks are kind of my specialty, so I go beat, I go hook, and then the lyrics…you being a great lyricist is really the butter…it’s the icing on the cake. Because there is really lots of guys who can make hit songs without having phenomenal lyrics, because that hook is catchy, it’s so catchy, people have to sing along with you, you know, there are songs you think about that you hate, but you remember that hook. That’s why they call it that, because it’s the part of the song that hooks you. You know what I’m saying? So that’s usually my process, I tend to write pretty quickly, because I’m probably a little crazy for real, my brain processes really fast, so once I get the concept, I just go. I pretty much just wing it. The way I produced my albums, I either produce it, co-produce it, buy a beat that night, write it that day, record it the next day in the studio – I do the same thing, I get a beat while the guy, my engineer is mixing, while Rob is mixing that song, I’m talking to another producer on the phone getting’ another beat, I’m like ‘Yeah I want that one,’ I have it emailed to me, I go home and write it that night, come back and record it the next day. So I usually do my albums in about three weeks.
So the production goes fast…
Yeah, super fast.
And this is something that appears to come with the territory since you have to put the album out and then go on the road immediately?
Well, that’s not necessarily the gameplan it’s just the by-product. The gameplan is not to go in there and see how fast I can do an album, because you might lack quality if you try to do that. It just happens that way, because one, we have time restraints. I only have a month to do my album – recording and mixing, so, I’ve already started, I already got eight songs ready to go. As a matter of a fact I’m going to listen to some more beats tonight, you know what I’m saying, to try and get a jump start on it, because I start recording (for Shock Treatment) late-March/early April. Yeah man, we have so many time constraints on us, because of our rigorous schedule I mean we’re touring, and recording, and putting albums out – and me personally, I’m on everyone’s album, you know what I’m saying?, so I really you know, lose a lot of time, doing other stuff. I sacrifice a lot to do it, but I love it. You know what I’m saying, I’m not tired of it, and I don’t mind sacrificing. It’s just my family and other people who have to suffer.
How much of the album does Tech N9ne sit in on and give you advice? Or does he let you go and do your own thing?
It’s a mixture. He gives me advice and he really kind of sits back. He use to give me a lot of advice, in the beginning more. He raised me in this music, man, he raised me, and so I really look up to him. He is really who brought out the true me. He brought it out of me, you know what I’m saying? He influenced me heavily, without me biting off of him, you know what I’m saying?
So yeah man, he’s my mentor, you know what I’m saying? You can hear his influence in my music but you also, if you’ve been paying attention to me, you’ve heard me blossom into me. Blossom into what Krizz Kaliko does, you know what I’m saying? So he sits in, but like on Genius, really he didn’t. On Genius I pretty much did that album alone. Me and my cousin wrote some. My cousin is Maxzilla who is in the 8161 Boys with me, Tech, and Kutt. And we wrote a lot of the stuff together, well he probably helps me with 20-30% of it, and then I write a lot stuff myself, and then what I do is leave room for Tech to come and get on songs.
He gives me, like some of my biggest songs with ours fans, he was just like, ‘You should do this on this beat, like on Birthday, ‘You should just say, it’s yo birthday,’ and I’m like ‘Ah, damn that’s good.’ And then I wrote the rest of the hook and then like on Anxiety, he was like “Hey man here’s this beat, you should write a song kind of anxiety to this.’ You know what I’m saying? So he’ll give me these little tips and then, when it comes to his album. He’ll be like, ‘Hey man, here’s this beat man, I want to say this on this beat’ and so here, write the hook. You know what I’m saying? And then I usually knock it off from there.
As far as Genius goes, do you have any favorite songs? Or tracks that really have a special meaning to you?
Man, they all…every song feels like my baby. I love the song “Genius,” I think it’s pretty creative. I also love some of the hits like “Back Pack,” “Doe Doe,” and “Get Off.” But the ones that I think are the most unique are usually my favorites, like “Love You 2 Death,” “Bipolar,” and the song “Genius” itself. And of course, “Chip On My Shoulder,” because my mom is singin’ on there. I always put my mom on at least one song on every album. That’s like my in the process of recording, to put my mom on there.
You’ve done a ton of shows with Tech in the past, but this is your first headline tour. It must be exciting?
It feels great, man. I’ve always wondered what would happen if I went out on my own. You know, if they promoted it totally right, what would happen? You know what I’m saying? And I saw last night, a place that holds 450, and we got like, close to 300 kids in there. You know what I’m saying? So it is, it’s very exciting and it’s going to be a growth process. You know what I’m saying? I got Irv da Phenom with me, he’s a local musician from our area, whose been getting’ some buzz, and this will help him as well as help me because he sings and raps as well. So, we have to. And I even told him when we first started that we must live up to the caliber of performance that Tech, myself, and Kutt do. We have to, because it would be a letdown for people to come and see me and go, ‘Ah yeah, I like him better with Tech.’ I want them to be like, ‘No, he kills it by himself!’ You know what I’m saying?
You’re on the road a lot, and being that you are an independent musician, it kind of comes with the territory. However, it has to wear on you at times. What keeps you driving forward?
It’s the fans, man, and its like, you couldn’t have a better job than this, man. In life, man, there is not a better job unless you are an athlete – to me anyways, or to someone who could not possibly work a 9 to 5. And I’ve worked probably thirty-five 9 to 5’s and I was never satisfied, I always felt like the movie “Office Space.” I always felt like, I’m going to kill somebody, ya know what I’m saying? So this job, of course, like every job has some crap you have to deal with but you couldn’t have a better job and music comes so naturally to me, so for me to be able to that for a living – is like even when I’m tired, my voice is gone today, but I’m still going to get on that stage and there is nothing better than that. And that keeps me driving, pushing forward, beside from the fact that I want such a good life for my wife and my son, you know, and that’s super important even through I basically have to be away from them to be able to provide for them. You know what I’m saying? But when I’m at home I make all of it count, and it just makes me, when I make all of the time count, when I’m at home, it just makes me push harder out here.
I came across a well written article from Ink Magazine about your career and a particular quote from Tech stuck out. Tech N9ne said, “I can’t say I’ve ever worked with anyone as creative as Krizz.” That’s a really nice compliment. What’s also a great compliment is your well-documented musical relationship with Tech and your ability to work together to not only make great music but also outstanding shows. What makes the relationship so special?
Yeah, and the funny thing is man, we’re so different, but we think a lot alike about subjects, especially when it comes to music. I don’t believe that there will ever be a whole lot of other musical partners who will have a better chemistry than of me and Tech. We have an unprecedented chemistry, man, you know what I’m saying? And that’s just on the creative side, you know, personally we really get along good because it’s funny, Tech is older than me but he kind of looks at me as his bigger brother, you know, and he takes just a lot of advice from me.
You know just on life, and he use to give me a lot of advice on women, because he’s like the Billy D. Williams of rap (laughs)… but he’s given me lots of advice on women because he’s been through a lot of things, and he’s been married before I was, stuff like that, you know what I’m saying, so I don’t man, we have a real brotherly type of relationship, plus we’ve lived together forever. I use to live with his wife and kids in L.A., he lived with me and my wife, he lived with me and my cousin at a house and it was like a fraternity house down there, we partied and got drunk every night, went to the strip club, so it’s been like a really wild ride, man. I would never be able to forget this – it’s probably been the funnest and most educational years of my life.
Even though your new tour has just started, does it feel strange that Tech’s not here?
Yeah, it feels weird man. He even called me yesterday and said it felt weird. As a matter of fact, I had my first show in Lawrence, Kansas…and he came to show and he said, ‘Man it felt so weird to sit and watch you on stage and me not be there,’ he was like ‘Man I hadn’t enjoyed a concert in years, I loved watching you man.’ He was like, ‘I see why people love us, its you.’ And I was like, ‘Nah, nah.’ But he was like, ‘The energy, man, you bring to my show, I see why people love it man,’ and he said, ‘You gotta take that act on the road. People will love you like they love me, man.’
So he definitely supports you and your decision not to take a permanent leave of absence, but a temporary one?
Well, that’s the way to build the entity of Krizz Kaliko, and it’s what he always said, ‘Dude I’m just a boost, I have a boost for you. I’m here to boost you and get you where you need to be,’ you know what I’m saying? And it took a lot of years for me to end up going separate, but it’s really not even going solo, it’s kind of like cutting the umbilical cord, you know what’s I’m saying, as far as my career goes and being able to try and stay out on my own as well as maintain as a permanent fixture of the Tech N9ne show.
How do you feel about Genius so far, in terms of the business side?
It’s great, man. It debuted as the number three rap album in the country, the number twelve R&B album, I forgot what else, but I charted pretty high with this album, man, and I was really proud of it. Now, that is also equated to where the industry is as far as record sales, especially independent records – and the record industry is kind of in the toilet as far as sales go, because of the internet, people aren’t really buying cd’s…you can snatch it off of the internet, you know what I’m saying, so it kind of hurts the artist. You know what I’m saying? So if you sell five, six, seven, eight thousand your first week, you can debut high. You know, back in the day that would be like nothin’. But for an independent to sell that, that’s what’s going to make you chart, you know, and I would like to sell thirty, forty, fifty thousand every time I drop and keep elevating it ya know? Getting out here on the road is going to help me out tremendously, you know, and I’m trying to get even more and more commercial status because I want the world to hear it. I know underground fans love to keep us to themselves, but the world needs to hear this. You know, if you are an underground fan and you love our music, wouldn’t you want to share it with everyone else and say, ‘Look at what I found, this is so dope, check it out.’
The internet definitely has a negative side, as you pointed out with record sales. However, do you see ways in which you can use the digital age to your advantage?
I love the viral marketing. But I’m kind of torn, because I kind of wish you couldn’t download stuff, because I would rather people buy it and support us, because this is how we feed our children. You know what I’m saying? So I would rather they wouldn’t, but at the same time, they couldn’t hear or wouldn’t even listen to it at all. So (the web) it’s a great marketing tool to get your music to people. You know what I’m saying?
You know as far as like these sites where you can go and just download the album, I would rather have it then not, but I wish they would buy it. You know what I’m saying? Now like MySpace, and the You Tube, UStream, all of these things are a great marketing tool to put your face out there. We’ve been streaming this whole time we’ve been out traveling the last couple of days, and we’re going from five people viewing my Ustream to 100 people in ten minutes. You know what I’m saying? So it’s a gift and a curse.
Deft Mag is a hip-hop Newsweek, and we like to focus on social issues and politics as they relate to music. One thing that comes to mind of late is the devastating earthquake in Haiti. A lot of musicians have gotten behind that cause and are producing music for charity, etc. Do you like to touch on social and political issues in your music?
Yeah, I mean, I want to touch everything. I want to touch social issues and I also want to make party music, because people when they are out drinking and party, I mean, because there is enough bad stuff going on in life to where we need to be able and let our head down, and relax, and drink and have a good time. People aren’t going to want and think when they’re doing that. They just want to hear something that is catchy and makes them feel good. Then, when they hear it another time and they’re not partying, it makes them think about the time when they were partying. So, I’m going to touch that, I’m going to touch social issues, because I do pay attention to social events and what’s going on in other countries, you know what I’m saying?
I’m an avid CNN watcher, you know what I’m saying, and I think it’s important for musicians to do that because we have a forum. We have a media voice. And if you have that, and you have the power to influence people, don’t just influence them to like drinkin’ and kickin’ it and smokin’, and when someone gets out of line – pop!, fight them or whatever you know what I’m saying?
We have a responsibility and to me, if you have the power to influence people, then you need to not only influence them to have a good time but also to try and better this world, because this world is crazy, man. You know what I’m saying? So I feel like you do have a responsibility, you know what I’m saying, somebody asked me that yesterday, just a kid, met a kid, and I said even though we have a responsibility, it’s more of a responsibility for those parents to bring these people up right. Bring these kids up and teach them as well as they can and make them a responsible adult, so when they hear me just talkin’ about drinkin’ and kickin’ it, that doesn’t mean to just do it at all costs. It means do it and enjoy yourself – you know what I’m saying – do something to help somebody, do something to better your life.
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