Life & Work with K!D

Today we’d like to introduce you to K!D.

K!D, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started rapping seriously around 2015-2016, I had always rapped for fun with my childhood friends growing up. My homie Bij was the most talented out of us all. I hooped and he rapped, but he always found ways to influence the things he was into onto us. So when I dropped out of school in 2014, that was the first person who had brought me to a studio. At the time, I had a retail job and was just trying to figure things out. I knew I was ambitious, and I knew I was creative, the only thing I didn’t know was how to fully tap into myself to bring it out of me. So now, fast forward to 2015 still working in retail, one day he hit my phone like “pull up to the studio and make a song”. So me being optimistic, I’m like it, whatever, I’ll be there. So I write this song, record it, play it back and after the first listen my homie and his girl really fuck with the track, but I’m thinking it’s just them being my friends. So I play it for a few others over the course of a few weeks and it’s all the same reception. That boosted my confidence to write more songs after making a few more songs. I wrote this song called “Rarri” in which became my first initial release on SoundCloud that got some traction and then six months later, I got contacted to do a show and I’ve been upping it ever since.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being independent, that was the biggest struggle. Learning the independent curve because you are your own everything. You have to wear so many different hats to keep this thing running. I would get frustrated because I felt like this wasn’t what I envisioned when I started out. I thought to myself “how hard can it be to get people to jump on board and see the vision” but reality humbles you quick and I understood that I had to build my own foundation and lay the groundwork first before things start to fall in place.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m K!D. Born and raised in Harlem, I’m a music artist who is making a name for himself in the underground scene, with my high energy and crowd control, I’ve headlined venues around the city such as Sunnyvale, Paperbox and the famed SOBs. I’m known for being him! Nah, just kidding but I am known for just being me, a cool, funny, laid back, down to earth person who wants to inspire and connect with others through himself and the world. I’m most proud of truly being the influencer instead of being the influenced. I think in today’s time, it’s a thin line between influence and inspiration and it’s easier to follow than to make something new. What sets my work apart from others to me is the vulnerability within my music. My ability to share my environments, emotions and feelings and make art with it, to tell the story of the inner city kids with no voice.

How do you think about luck?
I don’t really believe in luck fr, unless it’s dice. Everything that’s coming to me I worked hard for and I will continue to do so. I think energy is really the term. You get what you put out into the universe. I move with pure intent in everything I do, I guess I’m just a purist in his rarest form at the moment.

s/o the boy Dion.

Contact Info:

• Email: xxkidmusicxx@gmail.com
• Website: https://linktr.ee/KiDxx
• Instagram: xxk1dxx
• Twitter: xxk1dx
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/E-XfN46-Aqg

Image Credits:
William Vera III Edwin Ortiz Jr.