Photo by Paige Sierra Photography
Interview by @CopaseticSoulz
“KIDS have established themselves on an individual level, all hailing from northern Canadian communities. Meeting in Vancouver, they are a team of unique personalities that shine on a collaborative effort. They’ve toured across Canada with Masta Ace and independently as well as opening for a plethora of Major acts that have come through Vancouver. They released their debut mixtape titled “Summer School” in the Summer of 2012 and have several solo projects already released and many more in the works.
KIDS strive to express themselves honestly through quality music. The essence is to present organic sounds with new perspectives. With invigorating live performances, these fellas enlighten listeners with spoken word and flavourful beats. These guys are prolific; these guys are evolutionary. They are Kinetic Intelligence Developing Soul.”
Bio by Jakub Evolved
Q: Who are KIDS?
A: KIDS is made up of four members, Jakub Evolved, Kelvin, Munro and Mizzy.
Jakub Evolved is a consummate artist; from conceptualizing songs and albums, to adding an idea to a video, he brings a unique voice to the group. He also handles the majority of the writing for any promotional material that we send out. Kelvin is our Producer, engineer, all around sound man, accountant and just technical genius of the group. Munro is the Swiss Army knife. He started by working merch, slowly integrated into writing, recording, performing and now does graphic and some of the video work for the group.
Mizzy has the melodic sound, handles promotional material and working with promoters. He also dabbles in some of the video work and handles some of the business end for the group.
Q: How did you and the other members of KIDS decide to work together?
A: We started as three individuals that made music together and respected each other’s art. There was an opportunity to do some shows from Winnipeg to Wawa in the summer of 2010 and at this point we weren’t even known as KIDS yet and were representing as three individuals. After that tour, we realized we had something special going on and decided to actually formulate the group.
Q: You bring a lot of great energy to your live performances, how are things progressing in the studio? Can you tell us about your upcoming projects?
A: We take a lot of pride in our live show and have been working to replicate that in the studio. We are confident to say that we feel as though we have the livest set in the city. We developed our chemistry on stage before we did in the studio and every record gets stronger and stronger. We have a few group projects that are going to be released in the next couple years, starting with ‘The Hazing’, which is our first album. This record means a lot to us but through the process of creating and releasing it, we’ve already found ways to make improvements for the future.
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from? What kind of ideology is at the heart of all KIDS music?
A: Our inspiration is drawn from several things; our day-to-day lives, the past, present and future. KIDS stands for Kinetic Intelligence Developing Soul and is about being one and constant growth as a person, as a group and as a community. We also do work with youth and it is a huge inspiration because we want to help lead the next generation by guiding them to find and chase their passions, whether it be in music or not. We’ve heard that our sound is stuck in the past but feel as though it’s paying homage to our favourite era and those who paved the way before us; in a sense, we channel that for the future.
Q: What’s the hardest part of coordinating a group of four emcees? What’s the best part?
The hardest part is giving way to another persons opinion/decision because we all have our own perception/ideas on how we feel things should go. This also can be a gift though because we have a well a rounded scope of things and serves as an act of brainstorming. Another challenge is finding the balance of maintaining the individualities, working within the collective framework and not losing your identity as an individual because of falling into the group work so much. The best part, is the comradery. The group does consist of us four but we’ve always felt like anyone that we’ve had the opportunity to build with are also KIDS at heart. Whether it’s in attendance for shows, or working in the studio; if you ride with us, we consider you a KID
Q: Who are some of your favourite Vancouver artists of all time? Who had the most influence on you personally?
For Kelvin and Munro they grew up on the west coast so they are more in touch with the history of the music in the city. Moka Only, Swollen Members, Rascalz, SweatShop Union and HeadSpace have been a large influence for them . Jakub Evolved and Mizzy are from Northern Ontario, so they aren’t as deeply rooted into the VanCity scene as K and Munro.
For Mizzy it’s his big brothers/mentors/producers MD and Ali Dahesh. Jakub’s biggest artistic influence from the city is Slam Poet/artist, Zaccheus Jackson – RIP – on august 27th, while we were on the road, we got the news that Zaccheus had passed away; since then we have dedicated the tour in his memory and honour. If you knew Zaccheus, you know how huge his influence was in Vancouver and across the continent, from poets to youth, he will be missed greatly. The night after he passed a walk in his honor was organized and the attendance was so large that it shut down commercial drive. He is one of the greatest wordsmiths Vancouver and Canada will ever call their own.
Q: How do you feel about the Vancouver hiphop scene right now?
It’s an overly sensitive scene. We’ve seen more support from artist-to-artist over the years, but no one seems to be willing to take criticism and no one stands by people that call out a wack artist for being wack. Back in the day you’d get boo’d off stage if you weren’t good enough… now it’s all hand shakes and baby kissing.
Vancouver is a little microcosm of the overall music scene. There are talented artists who are bypassed due to business decisions and the political framework of the scene. Like the entire music business, there are plenty of artists that get shine but don’t have a ton of talent and this is much like the scene here. Some of the dopest artists within the city itself, aren’t even known on the scene because they don’t do the business and politics. We understand this is part of the rap game, but it’s still sad to see. Jakub recommends everyone check out Lucid The Artist.
Q: What’s next for the KIDS? Where will we find you this summer?
We are currently writing this as we embark on a month long tour with Masta Ace and the eMC crew. By the time this is out there will be a fresh new album online and in physical form, possibly be a new video or two released. We hope to see everyone at the VanCity show on September 20th. We also have several records that are close to being ready for release and hope to clean house and get those out to the public: a Kelvin solo, Jakub evolved solo, mizzy/Munro mixtape and a KIDS record with a group from Thunder Bay called Theymedia.