Premiere: Kevin Holliday - "Fire"
office spoke with Kevin about his music, Bruce Lee, working at a laundromat, and a changing Brooklyn.
Hey my guy, how are you doing today?
Yo, what's good? Things are going pretty solid. I can't complain.
What are you thinking about lately?
Recently I've actually been thinking a lot about water. Mainly because of this Bruce Lee quote I heard. He says, "You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. Put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, water can crash. Be water." I've been thinking about how I don't want to become stagnant as an artist. I think it’s so important to be able to communicate your message in a lot of different ways.
Where are you at the moment?
Right now I’m living in Brooklyn in the house where I grew up.
How have you been living?
Shit's been cool. Right now I'm just working at a laundromat during the day and making music at night. A lot of nights without much sleep. But I feel like when you're working towards something that you believe in it all makes sense.
What has quarantine life been like for you?
A lot of time for self-reflection. I’ve just been pushing myself as far as I possibly can. I know I’m probably spreading myself too thin, considering we’re in the middle of a pandemic. But, I have so much music waiting to come out which is a new feeling for me because usually, the way I create is pretty erratic and unplanned.
I listened to your single, "Fire." Were you trying to describe how dope the song was with the title?
No [laughs]. But thank you. "Fire" is basically about growing past relationships. The chorus is about a past love metaphorically burning away. That feeling sometimes leaves you in a numb, almost drug-induced state. Love and relationships are messy, a lot of the time you are going to come to a crossroads where you have to choose between yourself or that person. "Fire" doesn't directly say what that decision should be. It leaves that decision up to the listener. But, overall choosing yourself is an act of maturity that comes with time.
From what I understand you’re pretty underground at the moment. You have hundreds of thousands of Spotify listeners but you have no management and you produce everything independently. What has it been like reaching your level of prestige in music-making and reach on your own?
Yeah, it's been pretty crazy. Me and my friend Dontay Downer, who's also a producer, do essentially everything ourselves. I’m still kind of in disbelief that people even listen to this shit. Not that I think it's bad at all, but I usually make music for myself. I like to try to make things that I connect with and things I would have wanted to hear when I was growing up, so the fact that people listen to it and connect with it blows my mind every time.
Can you give me a little info on your background?
Sure. I’m from Fort Greene, Brooklyn. I’ve lived here my whole life. The gentrification where I’m from is insane. I remember when I was growing up all I saw was black people. Now I feel like people look at me like I don’t belong when they came here from like Wisconsin or some shit. Very strange. Anyway, everyone in my family is a music head, especially my brother Brian, I got a lot of my musical taste from him and my grandfather. I started making music pretty recently, but I realized early on that I had a connection to music in some capacity. When I was in the summer going into my sophomore year of college, I had thought a lot to myself about how music was something that I always felt strongly about, but never tried to make. That summer I tried to teach myself guitar learning a couple of chords and scales here and there. Before I knew how to use Garageband on my computer, I was making music on my phone, something I saw Steve Lacy do on YouTube. And I was kind of like, ‘I could do that shit too.’ Shoutout to Steve for that. The first few demos on my SoundCloud were recorded on my phone. Making music was something that I instantly fell in love with and found myself doing whenever and wherever I could. Especially on my laptop in class [laughs]. Essentially all of Space Cadet was made on my laptop during Economics, shoutout Professor Boulware. I’m pretty surprised I made it through college.
You started to blow up while you were still in school but you graduated last year. What have you been up to this time?
So much has happened in the past year. Just working honestly, in all senses of the word. I've been through like three jobs got fired from all of them [laughs]. None of them was my fault though to be fair. Right now I’m working at a laundromat and mixing people's songs on the side for extra money. Over the past year, me and a couple of friends also rented a studio space and Bushwick and started a recording space where we’ve been running sessions called Kudzu Recordings. Kudzu is where I’ve been recording and mixing all my stuff. I fund all of my projects and do all promotion and stuff myself so all my own money goes into that.
What’s your process like? Give me a play by play on how you conceive a song idea and how a song gets made.
It's pure chaos. Most times I’m just shooting in the dark, trying a million different ideas until I find something that sounds interesting to me. It could be anything: a melody, someone whistling in the room, a drum break, literally anything. But when it catches my ear I'm hyper-focused on it until it becomes something. I just like to do whatever I feel is calling me at the moment.
Your first EP, Space Cadet, came out last year, what has the reception been like?
I honestly did not expect it to do as well as it did. I feel like there's still a ton of room for improvement. But I was pretty taken aback by the number of support people showed. I feel like a lot of what I’ve been working on over the past year is just polishing my sound and getting more efficient at producing it. I feel like Space Cadet put a lot of things into perspective because I haven't been making music for that long. I’ve just been trying to get better.
Do you do anything else other than music? How do you get creative outside of the studio?
I do some graphic design shit sometimes, and I'm a master chef. Recently I’ve been working on designing my merch, which is going to drop soon actually. I feel like as an artist when you work in different mediums it can open up nontraditional ways of thinking when you're going back to your main craft. It’s really important to not get trapped in one way of thinking.
How would you describe your style? Where are you trying to go with it?
Sorta like Sisqó mixed with Omarion with a splash of Lil B [laughs]. Nah, for real I fucking hate genres, to be honest. I feel like they're pointless and constricting. I make whatever I'm feeling at the moment. I feel like a lot of the time that's a bad thing because a big portion of the stuff I make comes out chaotic, but I feel like music is one of the only things that makes me feel free. I guess if anything I just want my music to sound different and distinct. I want people to listen and think, “Ok, that's Kevin's sound”.
If you could work with anyone who would it be?
Andre 3000. I don't even have to think about it. Easily my biggest musical inspiration. I don't usually like to obsess over people because they're just people but he’s the one person I feel like if I met I’d actually be nervous. Oh, also I’d love to work with Tyler he’s fucking dope.
Who are your greatest musical inspirations?
Musically I’m kind of like a sponge I like to take in and internalize every piece of music that I hear. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of blues and early country. Country when it was still Black as fuck. But, if I were to pick a few artists that changed my life and the way I listen to and make music probably. Outkast, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Pharrell, Solange, Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, and like Ohio Players. I know I'm forgetting a bunch but yeah.
Where are you trying to go next?
To the top [laughs]. Nah I'm just really trying to make a tangible impact with my music whatever that might be. I feel like music has such a visible impact on people and has the power to change. I want some kid to feel this same way I felt listening to Pharrell and Outkast. growing up. I love how I have the power to make people feel good or less alone with my music and I want to keep doing that.
